


Not Just A Woman

by kibosama



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Related, DarnthingwillbebooklengthbythetimeI'mfinished, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Gen, HowdidIendupwritingthisforoverayear, Plotty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-26 21:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 52,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6257509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibosama/pseuds/kibosama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nice Robin is a crewmate, a nakama, and an intelligent woman. Zoro doesn't see her as anything more than that, at first. But gradually, as they travel, that starts to change. As he sees more facets of this carefully guarded woman, he can't help but see her as something more. (This is a slow romance that will wind itself in and out of the anime, agreeing with canon.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> One Piece is written by Eiichiro Oda-sensei and I am not worthy. I am simply playing in his sandbox for a limited time and do not make any claim upon his characters, world, or anything he has created. This is a story by a fan, made for other fans' enjoyment.
> 
> Author's note: Anyone remember that episode in Skypiea when Zoro catches Robin after she's struck by lightning? (What am I saying, every Zoro x Robin shipper in the world remembers that moment!) Anyway, Zoro says: "She's only a woman." I think he comes to the conclusion later that Robin is anything but "just a woman" as the story continues, hence the title of the fic.
> 
> Also, I'm writing this because I want a nice, slow buildup of a romance between Robin and Zoro. One that would actually work with canon, that is. So I'm weaving this story in and around the anime episodes. FYI. I'll give you either location titles or enough hints for you to figure out where they must be in the story as you read. Oh, and I have no beta reader for this story, so any grammar mistakes rest solely on my head. I tried to catch them all, but I never see my own mistakes, soooo…yeah. Sorry in advance.
> 
> Okay, I'll stop rambling, you can go read now.

I settled into my favorite spot on the deck with a yawn, shifting my shoulders until I found just the right angle. Someone (Usopp?) had cut the grass while I was up in the nest training because the grass was more prickly than it had been and it smelled like freshly cut watermelon. I liked the scent and a smile unconsciously tugged at my mouth as I closed my eyes. Mm, with the sun pleasantly warming my skin and the familiarity of the slight rocking of Sunny lulling me to sleep, it was just perfect for a na—

I shot to my feet in the next second, swords temporarily abandoned on the grass. That soft, startled cry hadn’t been loud, but instinct had me moving before I could really analyze it. I had covered a full stride toward the rear of the ship before I even realized what the danger was. 

Robin was falling. 

Her back was toward the deck, arms and legs upwards as gravity sucked her quickly toward the deck. She had her arms crossing, as if to activate her Devil’s Fruit ability, but I knew she wouldn’t get it done in time. 

I put more strength into my legs, propelling me forward faster, and stretched out my arms to their absolute limit. Please—make—it—in—time! 

In the next second my hands folded around her body, arms cradling her weight. Stretched out like I was, it felt beyond awkward to catch her like this and I instinctively brought her closer to my chest in a protective manner, my torso folding over hers. The momentum and angle sent me to my knees and I slid on the grass, feeling her gasp at the impact against my chest. 

For a second, I just knelt there, breathing. My heart thudded loud in my ears, almost as hard as it did when I geared up to fight a very tough opponent. That…that had been beyond scary. To see her heading head first toward the ground like that. She didn’t move or say anything and I felt another flash of fear race up my spine. I had caught her right, hadn’t I? She wasn’t somehow injured? I lifted my head a little, giving her space to breathe, and demanded, “You okay?”

She looked up at me with her dark blue eyes wide, her hand clutched in my shirt, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her mouth moved once, soundlessly, then she managed, “I-I’m fine. Thank you, Zoro-san.” 

“Oi, Moss-head! You caught her properly, right?” The idiot love-cook demanded from the railing above. His squirrely eyebrows were more twisted than usual, making him look demented instead of worried. “She isn’t injured, is she?!”

I ignored him—I usually do—and instead rose, putting us both back on our feet. “What happened?” I asked her. 

“Just an accident,” she assured me with that calm smile she usually wore. She smoothed out her black hair, straightening her clothes as if she had just gotten mussed by a strong gust of wind, nothing more. I was sure it was a mask to cover up her speeding heartbeat. “I was passing by the kitchen just as Sanji-san came out with a large tray.”

So, in other words, the idiot had knocked her over the railing. I turned to give him a glare. “You bonehead, she could have been seriously hurt because of your carelessness!”

For a split second he looked honestly remorseful about that. His sense of chivalry, or whatever it was, was probably nagging at him about now. But it didn’t last more than a moment before he launched himself over the railing, landing neatly in front of Robin, and started swooning at her feet and vowing to never allow her to face such danger again. 

I rolled my eyes, praying for patience. Robin, used to his antics, smiled at him and assured him that everything was fine. That just encouraged him, and he started up all over again, as he seemed to think that he should have been the one to catch her. That would have been a neat trick, actually – to cause her to fall and then catch her on the ground at the same time. 

Chopper came out of his room to ask what the commotion was about, which set love-cook off all over again. His prattling was getting on my nerves, it normally does, but I had this molten hot ball of anger in my chest that wasn’t going away either. 

I eyed him thoughtfully. He wasn’t a Devil’s Fruit user, so if I pitch him overboard, he likely won’t drown, right? Maybe a dip in the ocean would cool his head a bit. 

If nothing else, it would make me feel better. 

Decided, I picked him up by the waist and hefted him over my head. 

“O-oi!” he protested, wriggling fruitlessly. “Moss-head, what the hell—”

“Heave-ho.” With a (I admit it) evil smile, I tossed him overboard. 

He made a very satisfying splash when he hit the water. 

From different areas of the ship, people started popping out to see what was going on. Love-cook (un)fortunately rose quickly back to the surface and his head broke above the water with no trouble, blond hair slicked back and revealing those weird eyebrows of his. His face was flushed redder than a lobster and he shook an angry fist at me. “What the hell, Moss-head!”

“Penance,” I drawled down at him, not at all bothered that he was probably planning out my funeral arrangements. “I don’t care what your excuse is, you don’t put one of the girls in danger.”

That made a dent with him when nothing else would have and he actually looked shame faced. Idiot. When I thought about how hurt Robin could have been just because of his carelessness, it made me wish I’d thrown him farther. With ankle weights on his legs. 

“Wait, Zoro-san,” Robin protested, a hand hovering near my arm that never quite touched me. “It was an honest accident! Sanji-san would never intentionally harm me, we all know that.” 

“If it wasn’t an accident, I would have done a lot worse to him,” I informed her bluntly. Her eyes flew wide. It was an odd feeling to have shocked this normally unshockable woman twice in five minutes. 

“B-but—” she spluttered. 

It was even weirder to see her lost for words. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. Me, I wasn’t much for talking unless something needed to be said. But I could tell from the way that Nami looked at me, and Franky, that they didn’t get it either. Well, Franky I could sort of understand since he’d only been with us a few weeks, and obviously Robin wouldn’t get it because I’d never treated her like a real part of the crew until we went to get her from Enies Lobby. Before that, I had protected her because Luffy told me to and that was it. 

Alright, fine, I’d make myself clear. I let out a sigh and turned so I could face all three of them. “Nami, Robin, I know very well that you’re strong fighters and you can take care of yourselves.” Mostly. Unless the opponent was monstrously strong. “But I’m not blind either. Neither of you have the same physical strength or durability that us guys do. You’re easier to hurt. It’s as simple as that. It’s our job—” I included every man on this ship in that ‘our’ even Chopper “—to make sure you’re not hurt.”

Love-cook had managed to climb back on board at this point, dripping sea water all over the place and smelling like kelp. He looked like a drowned rat with his clothes sticking to him like that. I aimed my last words at him. “So it’s very unforgivable for one of us to have been the ones to put you in danger.”

Sanji really couldn’t meet my eyes. Guilt fully kicked in, eh? 

Luffy, with an unusually serious look on his face, came up to stand between me and Sanji. “It was a good catch, Zoro,” he complimented me. 

I gave a grunt of acknowledgement. 

“But I think you’re a little hard on Sanji.” Luffy lit up in a sudden smile, pushing his straw hat further back on his head to look up at me. “So no more tossing him, okay? Franky!”

Franky straightened, both hands holding the sides of his open Hawaiian shirt as if he were reporting for duty. “Yo!”

“I bet you can fix this,” Luffy suggested. “Make something so this can’t happen again.”

“Super leave it to me!” Franky agreed, already heading for his tools. 

With all of this settled, more or less, I headed back for my napping spot. Hopefully the chaos of the day had already happened and I could have an uninterrupted snooze. 

Alas, it was not to be. Nami followed on my heels, her voice pitched low so that it wouldn’t carry. “Since when do the guys protect us from all danger?”

“I didn’t say that,” I responded in annoyance. Couldn’t she leave anything alone?

“Zoro, since joining up with Luffy, I’ve been in danger all the time!”

“Not my fault,” I retorted. It honestly wasn’t, either. It was always Luffy’s fault. Our teenage captain was not known to have any common sense, especially not when a strong opponent was around to fight. “I’ve never intentionally left you in a situation that you couldn’t somehow handle.” I have, on occasion, gotten into situations that were over my head and left me unable to help anyone else, but hopefully I’d get strong enough in the near future to where that wouldn’t happen anymore. 

She opened her mouth, paused as she thought about it, then frowned. I took advantage of this lull in the interrogation to settle comfortably back on the grass. Franky’s idea to make the main deck a mini-yard was very inspired. Our old ship got hard to sleep on sometimes because of the sun-dried planks. 

Nami sank onto her heels next to me, apparently unable to let this go. “So you see Robin properly as a woman now?”

I blinked at this sudden switch in topics. “What?”

Her brown eyes were fixed on me as if she were scrutinizing every twitch in my expression. “Before, you looked at her like she was the devil incarnate. You only put up with her because Luffy told you to. So when did that change to ‘you’re a girl, I need to protect you’, hmmm?”

I gave her a you must be kidding look. It didn’t faze her. “Nami. I noticed from the beginning she was a woman. You’d have to be blind not to.” Both she and Nami were beautiful women. Sometimes evil, devious, and scary but nevertheless beautiful. 

“That’s not what I’m asking. When did you decide you needed to protect her?”

“Oh, I don’t know, the minute we discovered she was going to die for us?” I shot back sarcastically. Really, was that so hard to figure out? 

“She’d a hardcore assassin and Devil’s Fruit user, but you still feel the need to protect her?” Nami questioned with a strange intensity. What was with that note of excitement in her voice? 

I rolled my eyes to the sky, annoyed by this line of questioning and not seeing a good reason for it. Seriously, why did it matter? “If I answer you, will you go away?”

“Yes,” she answered promptly. 

I didn’t really buy that—this woman could out bargain hardened criminals—but tried playing the game anyway. “Nami, like I said, I’m not blind. Devil’s Fruit ability aside, Robin’s got all the strengths and weaknesses of every other woman. It’s also pretty obvious that despite the fact she’s about my height, she’s not very big. In fact, I’d say you two were close in size.”

Nami blinked. “We are, actually.”

I thought as much. After all, I’ve carried both of them at different times so it was an easy thing to notice. “Robin’s weak in some ways. She’s too prone to get into the thick of trouble and not ask for help when she needs to. I understand why—after twenty years of not having help to rely on, it’s a hard habit to break—but that’s why I keep a closer eye on her than anyone else. All of you, you’ll let me know upfront if something is too much for you to handle. Her? She won’t say a word.”

Nami’s eyebrows arched in an impressed manner. “I didn’t realize you were so observant with people.”

I jerked a thumb at Luffy. “With a captain like that, the first mate has to be.”

She grimaced. “Point. Still, I would have thought that out of the two of us, you would have found Robin to be the better fighter and not worried about her at all.”

Actually, out of the two of you, you’re scarier. I carefully clamped my mouth shut before I accidentally said that out loud. 

“Hmmm.” She pushed off on her knees and stood back up. “Well, that explains a few things.”

“Can I sleep now?” I asked plaintively. I’d had the dawn watch this morning and was short on sleep at the moment. 

“Yes, yes,” she flapped a hand at me in dismissal as she turned away.


	2. Chapter Two

Seriously, this was ridiculous. We’d barely left Water 7 two weeks ago and we were already out of food? I realize that Luffy is a complete glutton, and Sanji does his best to keep him from raiding the fridge, but to have to stop at an island and stock up on food a bare two weeks out of port is crazy. The Grand Line is one of the most unpredictable seas out there. Why would Luffy eat us out of house and ship without care when we had no way of knowing how long it would actually take for us to reach the next island? 

Maybe I should have a quiet word with Franky. Surely he could idiot-proof the kitchen so a certain captain couldn’t get into it. 

Sighing, I took a look at the island we had just pulled in to. The port didn’t look all that different from other ports, with a fair-sized town spreading out around the coastline. Seemed a nice enough place, but most of them did at first glance. I wouldn’t know how much trouble could be found here until I walked the main street. At least this place wasn’t one of those one-season-only islands. It had a proper forest outside of the town, and a mountain off in the distance, the weather a nice sunny day without being scorching warm. 

Sanji stood at the gangplank and started issuing orders. “Listen, we don’t want to stay here long. So I’m splitting you up with certain assignments. Franky, get me flour, sugar, and rice. As much as you can buy or carry.”

“Super will do!” Franky agreed amiably. With his half-machine body and strong arms, he often got the heavier lifting jobs. I think he was used to it already even though he hadn’t been with the crew long. 

“Wait, why are you issuing orders?” Luffy asked in confusion, a half-pout forming. He never liked it when someone else but him gave the orders. 

“Because you ate all the food!” Nami and Sanji snapped at him at the same time. 

He flinched back and rubbed at his neck with a sheepish smile. “My bad, my bad.”

There wasn’t a trace of regret in his tone. I rolled my eyes. Definitely had to have that talk with Franky. 

“Moss-head, get the sake,” Sanji continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Chopper, get me any vegetables and fruits that look good.”

“Roger!” Chopper acknowledged with his usual energy. He was in his Brain Point form, looking like a stuffed animal version of a reindeer, although he had put on a vest instead of just running around in his hat and pants. 

“Usopp, I need fresh water. Oh, and if there’s any tea or cola to be had, get that too.”

We were always short on cola, considering that was what the Sunny ran on, so that was a good idea. If I found any while I was out, I’d pick up some as well. 

“I’ll get the meat,” Sanji concluded. “Robin-chwan, Nami-swan, you don’t need to do any of this so you can stay here if you wish.”

“No, there’s a few things I need, so I’ll shop as well,” Nami responded. The way that she was straightening her skirt, red hair done up, all suggested that ‘shopping’ was not on her agenda. She was looking for prey to fleece. I fleetingly felt sorry for any of the men stupid enough to fall for that pretty smile. 

“What about me?” Luffy demanded, pointing a finger at himself. 

“You stay and guard the ship!” Nami and Sanji growled at him, again in unison. They were strangely in sync today. 

“Che.” Shoulders slumping, Luffy shuffled back toward the deck swing. 

We all started down the gangplank, the wood rattling a little against the deck as our weight shifted it. I paused with my feet on the deck and gave a suspicious look behind me, but it looked like (for once) Luffy would behave and actually guard the ship. 

“Zoro-san, do you mind if I accompany you?” Robin asked. 

I turned to look at her. She hadn’t said anything before, but I’d assumed that she had shopping to do of her own since she left the Sunny. “Well, I don’t mind, but all I’m doing is buying sake and coming straight back here.”

“That’s fine,” she assured me, smile upturning the corners of her mouth. “I don’t need to buy anything. I just wanted to stretch my legs a little.”

While all of this sounded plausible, I had this lurking suspicion that she had actually attached herself to me because she was afraid I would get lost the second I stepped foot into town. Not that I get lost. No, it’s just that new places like this were confusing and they never labeled the roads, so it was easy to get turned around. Yeah, that was all. 

If she had started teasing me about a poor sense of direction, like Nami, Chopper or Sanji typically did, then I would have turned her down flat. But she was nice about it, and didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives, so I shrugged assent. “Fine. Let’s go.” 

She fell into step beside me and we walked into the town. Everyone else was already well ahead of us, some of them disappearing into stores. We passed the first row of buildings, all of them made of wood, most of them more than one story, and already the place looked confusing. All the shops looked alike, streets seemed to branch off in every direction, and we weren’t more than ten steps into the town! I swear, people like Nami, who can navigate and always find their way, amaze me. 

I had my eyes peeled for any signs of a brewery, or a tavern, so I admit that at first I didn’t notice. It was the low murmurs of male voices, all in tones of admiration and lust, that caught my ear. Then someone let out a whistle and called out a particularly lewd suggestion to the woman at my side. I turned my head just enough to catch his eye, giving him a glare that promised I would break his jaw if he said one more word. 

The prick immediately shut his filthy trap and turned away as if he hadn’t said anything to begin with. 

“It needn’t bother you, Zoro-san,” Robin murmured for my ears only. “I’m used to such.”

She shouldn’t have to be, dammit. I realize that most men are scum when it comes to a beautiful woman but there’s limits. I let out a growl. “Robin, do us both a favor and take my arm.”

“Eh?” she blinked at me, not at all expecting that request. 

“Take my arm,” I repeated patiently. “It’ll make it more obvious that you’re with me.”

She cast a look around her. “I see.”

She was a smart woman, she knew what I meant. If they assumed she was my lover, they’d leave her alone aside from a lecherous glance or two and I wouldn’t be forced to break jaws all over town. Without hesitation, she linked her arm with mine, and I swear I heard more than one man behind me curse aloud. Jealous, eh? I bit back a smirk. If they only knew she wasn’t my lover…I wasn’t about to explain though. 

We kept walking, in what felt like circles, but I knew it wasn’t because Robin didn’t say anything about retracing our steps. Unless she was also confused by this labyrinth of a town? I started swearing in my head. At this rate, we’d never get back to the Sunny. 

“Have you ever,” Robin asked suddenly, “protected Nami like this? Escorted her to protect her from other men, I mean.”

“Huh? Oh. No, never. But she’d scalp me if I tried. To her, those men back there were prime targets to con. She enjoys fleecing idiots.” And non-idiots, for that matter. I didn’t want to even think about how much I owed her. 

“Yes, that’s true.” She lifted a hand to her mouth and chuckled. She shifted so that she walked a little closer to me. “I’m glad you’re doing this, though. Dealing with men like that gets tiresome.” 

Yeah, I bet it did. Maybe I should make sure that someone went with Robin from now on when we were in a strange port. I took that thought a step further and frowned. The question was, who to send? If Luffy went with her, he’d be mistaken for her kid brother and that wouldn’t intimidate anyone. Chopper and Usopp flat wouldn’t be taken at all seriously. Love-cook would take all of three steps with her before fainting from blood loss. 

Which left me. 

I heaved an internal sigh. Alright, mental note, if the place looked shady I needed to stick close to the girls, Robin especially. 

“Oh, there’s a bookstore.” Robin’s voice became more animated, excited. “Do you mind if we step in for a moment?”

I couldn’t begin to see the appeal considering she had a huge library already in the ship, but it didn’t matter to me, so I shrugged assent. Maybe I can ask for directions to a brewery or something while she’s browsing. 

We stepped into the store, a slightly dim place that had books crammed into every nook and cranny. I swear to you, a full grown man would not be able to fit in between the aisles. I took two steps inside the door, and stayed planted right there, afraid that if I ventured in any further, I’d set off an avalanche of books. The place smelled dusty too, as if no one had cleaned since the turn of the century. 

Oddly enough, this excited Robin more than turned her off. She approached an aging man—the shopkeeper?—and asked him if he had books on history and the like. She even rattled off several titles she was looking for. He nodded at one or two, which excited her further, and they slithered in between stacks of books, heading deeper into the store. 

I didn’t understand her fascination with history, but I respected it. Her knowledge had saved our hides more than once after all. So I patiently stood my ground and waited for her to unearth whatever it was she was looking for. 

It took a few minutes longer than I expected, but they came back without anything crashing down onto them or getting completely covered in dust, which took a miracle in this place. Robin had not two, but three books in her hands. She paid for them with a winsome smile, like a child with an unexpected birthday present, and held them close to her chest. 

She looked so happy that I found myself smiling at her smile. Strange woman. As she came back to me, I asked, “Old man, is there a brewery or tavern near here? Somewhere that sells good sake.”

“Oh, sure, sure,” he assured me in a voice that creaked like an ancient bellows. “Go down the street,” he pointed in the right direction, “and take the second road on your left. Tim’s Brewery is there.”

“Thanks.” I waited for Robin to take my arm again before leading us back out onto the street. 

She tugged me almost instantly, facing me the opposite direction. “He said to go this way.”

Did he? “You sure? I thought it was this way.”

Robin just smiled. “The ship’s that way.”

I looked both directions up and down the street and scratched at the back of my head. “This town is so damn confusing. Are you sure? Really? Alright, we’ll try it your way first.” 

Since she seemed to know where to go, I let her take the lead. As we walked, I glanced at the spines of the books, reading the titles. “Herbs, Remedies and Uncommon Mixtures?” I read aloud in confusion. Those had nothing to do with history. 

“Hmm?” she glanced from my face to the books in her hands. “Oh, that one. I bought it for Chopper. He doesn’t have this one, and I thought he might find it interesting.”

I blinked at her. “How in the world do you know he doesn’t have that one?”

“I’ve read everything he has,” she responded simply, as if it was no great feat. 

Granted, I see a new book in her hands on a daily basis, so I know that she reads like lightning, which means she’d run out of new things to read soon. But to read Chopper’s books?! It was like reading a foreign language. “You must have been very desperate for something new to read.”

“No,” she corrected, “I studied them on purpose. Is that really so surprising?”

“Yes,” I told her bluntly. “It really is.”

“Truly? I didn’t think so. I just realized one day that Chopper is the only one with any medical knowledge whatsoever. But what if something happened to him? Or we were separated from him? Wouldn’t it be more prudent if at least one other person on board knew something about medicine?”

I turned that over in my mind for a moment and immediately saw her point. We’d gone so long without a doctor at all that when we finally got Chopper, I had assumed all of our problems were solved. But Robin was right, if anything happened to the little guy, we were in serious trouble. “I’m glad it’s you that’s learning.” 

“Oh? Why me particularly?”

“Because you’re smart and you’re not easily rattled,” I answered without thinking. She flushed lightly at this praise and I suddenly realized it was probably the first time I had ever complimented her. It made the mood a little awkward. To cover that up, I kept talking. “Think about it. Luffy would try to cure everything by having you eat meat—”

Robin choked on a laugh. 

“—Usopp would faint if you were bleeding, Franky would try to build some sort of a machine to fix the situation or turn you into a cyborg—”

She laughed even harder at that, nodding in agreement.

Encouraged, I continued, “—Nami would charge you a fortune for anything she did, and Sanji would get so many nosebleeds while treating the girls, that no one would get medical attention at all.”

“What about you?” Robin challenged, an eyebrow arched. “I’ve seen you patch people up before.”

“Oh sure, if it’s a sword cut or something obvious, I can tie a bandage on you. But if it’s a disease, you’re flat out of luck. I’m 100% sure that I will mix up the wrong herbs and accidentally poison any patient handed to me.” I didn’t say that just to get her to laugh, either. I knew my limits all too well. I abruptly realized that I had been so focused on our conversation that I had no idea where I was anymore. “Did we pass that second street?”

“No, it’s just up ahead.” She pointed to it. “See the tavern sign? We turn there.”

“Doesn’t this place confuse you at all?” I complained to her. It felt unfair that she was so certain of where we were. 

“I’ve been in more confusing places,” she responded with an enigmatic smile. 

Robin led us straight to the brewery as if the old man’s directions had been perfect (which they hadn’t been, he’d been off by a street), and I bought the sake. There was a general store right next door, so we stopped in there too and I bought all the cola they had. It made for an awkward bundle to cart back to the ship. I had two boxes of sake on one shoulder and another two boxes of cola on the other. 

“I’ll lead the way back, shall I?” Robin volunteered as I joined her on the street. 

I actually didn’t need a guide back—I pretty much knew how to get to the ship from here—but her taking lead meant she would be in front of me, and I could keep an eye on her that way. So I said, “Sure.” 

She immediately took a turn she wasn’t supposed to, but she did it was such confidence that I didn’t have the heart to correct her. So I just followed along behind, most of my view blocked by the boxes riding on my shoulders. They weren’t heavy, but they were certainly awkward, and I had to keep a tight hold on them to keep them from shifting. 

From nowhere, something tackled me around the legs, nearly sending me face first into the street. “Whoa!”

“Zoro, help!” Chopper’s voice came from my knees. “They’re trying to eat me!”

What?! I quickly put the boxes down so that I could see the situation for myself. It didn’t take long to understand what Chopper meant. Two mountain men—they couldn’t be anything else, not with those worn in leathers and scraggly beards—were coming fast, both of them with rifles in their hands. My eyes narrowed. What kind of buffoon tries to eat a reindeer that’s wearing clothes for heaven’s sake? 

“Robin, Chopper, both of you stay behind me,” I ordered. “And keep an eye on the boxes.” 

The mountain men slowed as they caught sight of me, sheltering their prey. I put a hand on Wado and snapped up the hilt so that an inch of steel showed, making it clear that I meant business. “I’d suggest stopping,” I told them flatly. 

One of them pointed a finger in Chopper’s direction. “That there’s our prey.”

“That is named Chopper,” I corrected in as menacing a voice as possible. “He’s our ship’s doctor.” 

“You can’t have no reindeer as a doctor!”

Of all the stupid, ignorant….argh. “Chopper, say something.”

“I have been!” he protested, still clinging to one leg. “They think it’s a hallucination brought on by some mushrooms they ate last night!”

I sucked in a breath and blew it out, feeling my patience at this situation evaporate. Alright, let’s put this in terms the idiots can understand. “He’s not your prey, boys, he’s my reindeer. Now you need to ask yourself, just how bad do you want venison for dinner?” I fell into a fighting stance, ready to bring the fight to them before they could take proper aim and fire. 

They took in my stance, the sword ready to cut them in half, and the little reindeer quivering behind me. They might be idiots, but even they could do basic math. That little bit of meat wouldn’t be worth the trouble of going through me to get it. With a lot of grumbling and a look of disgust and frustration, they turned on their heels and left. 

I returned Wado to its sheath and looked down at Chopper. “This is a first. I don’t think anyone’s ever tried to eat you before.”

“It’s actually the second time,” he grimaced. “It almost happened in Alabasta too.”

Really? Maybe I need to arrange an escort for Chopper too….

“Did you find any vegetables or fruits?” Robin asked. 

Chopper shook his head. “Those men found me before I could try to buy anything.” 

I looked down the street. The ship wasn’t far from here. “Let me get these boxes to the ship and then I’ll come shopping with you.”

He looked up at me with shining eyes of gratitude. “Thank you!”

Hefting the boxes up onto my shoulders, I started off for the ship. Chopper and Robin both instantly grabbed me and turned me around the opposite direction. “This way,” Robin corrected, her tone amused. 

“No, can’t be,” I protested although I didn’t stop walking. “Isn’t it the other way? Are you sure?”

“We’re positive, Zoro,” Chopper said with (for some reason) a long sigh. 

“This town is so damn confusing,” I complained aloud.


	3. Chapter Three

They say that you run into everything out here, but a ship that is as big as an island has to be unique. At least, I hope it is. This place caused us no end of trouble and we nearly lost two people. Besides, I have a new aversion for zombies and I’d rather not stumble across a place like this one again. 

The mad scientist creating zombies out of people were bad enough, and the resurrected giant that we’d had to fight was only partially fun to deal with. It was the ghosts that I hadn’t liked, and having people split up in every direction without knowing how people were doing. But even I admit that most of it had been more annoying than anything. 

Kuma was the real trouble. 

The Navy Admirable had given Luffy quite the beating. It was the first time that Luffy had really suffered that kind of defeat before. It was hard to do damage to a rubber-man and it was obvious that Luffy banked on that too much. When he ran into someone with real fighting skill, he hadn’t been able to defend himself or do real damage to his enemy, and the cost was high. I’d stumbled into the fight far too late to do any good. 

When Kuma offered me the choice of taking on the pain and damage from Luffy, I hadn’t hesitated. I think he’d expected I would. But I was the first to join the crew, and honestly, Luffy’s more like my kid brother than my captain. Seeing him lying there, bleeding, had hurt my heart so badly I felt it right down to my marrow. Taking on his pain wouldn’t hurt as badly as seeing him like that. 

I knew that Luffy had taken quite the beating on Thriller Bark. I mean, that had been blatantly obvious to everyone. But knowing that he’d taken a beating and experiencing the beating are two very different things. When Sanji came around and found me, standing there dripping blood after Kuma had gone, I honestly don’t know how I kept standing. Sheer stubbornness, I guess. And when he hauled me directly to Chopper, I don’t remember anything said to me, or what I might have said in return. 

I pretty much slept for days on end, getting up to eat and then going back to sleep. (I suspect Chopper drugged me. I’ve been severely injured before, I know good and well that you don’t rest easy when you’re hurting. I slept faaaar too good during those first days.) But then I started feeling a little better. Like, not-eligible-for-burial-in-the-next-twenty-four-hours better. Well enough, at least, to feel a little stir crazy. 

Sitting around has never been my thing. The whole reason I’d been sent to the dojo in the first place was because the adults around me was sick of dealing with my tireless energy and they found something for me to do to work all that out of my system. So even though I was injured, and aching, and sore, I found it impossible to sit still. 

I lay on the bed in Chopper’s room, staring at the clock hanging over his desk. I swear the thing is busted. Its hands haven’t moved a bit since the last time I looked. Who knows how long I’ve been lying here, staring blindly at the ceiling? But Chopper was well and gone, so now was my chance to escape. 

Easing the blankets out of my way, I shifted so I could sit upright. Ow. Owowowowow okay, that’s a bad angle. Mental note, don’t do that in the near future. Breathing heavily through my nose, I managed to get fully upright. Phew. A little touch and go for a moment, but I’m fine. Now, where the hell had he put my shoes? Aw, screw it, I don’t need them for running around in the Sunny anyway. 

At that moment the door opened and I froze, not really wanting to hear another of Chopper’s lectures on taking it easy. But it wasn’t Chopper that came inside. Robin gave me a swift glance from head to toe, one eyebrow arched in challenge. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”

“I’m tired of lying in here,” I tried not to sound like a whining five year old. I have a feeling I failed. “It’s boring. I just want to walk around a little.”

“I would think,” she said in that smooth, cool voice of hers, “that someone who is bearing the pain and injuries of two people wouldn’t be so eager to get up.”

Two people…wait…my eyes crossed. “How the hell—?!”

“I overheard your conversation.” She said this like it was a simple statement, an obvious reason even. She didn’t even look flustered as she drew up a chair so that she could sit at my bedside. 

My brows furrowed as I thought about that. “You weren’t anywhere nearby. How did you…wait. You did that ear trick of yours again, didn’t you?”

She just smiled at me, not at all embarrassed that she had purposefully eavesdropped. “I don’t know why you are keeping what you did quiet.”

I groaned. “I have a couple of good reasons for that.”

Her head cocked slightly. “Such as?”

“One, you already set a bad example for sacrificing yourself to save everyone else,” I retorted in exasperation. “If they discover I did it too, it’ll become a habit, and a bad one.”

Was that a smile lurking at the corners of her mouth? “I don’t think so. But what’s your other reason?”

“Can you imagine how Luffy will react if he discovers what I did? He’s got this idea in his head that it’s perfectly okay for him to sacrifice himself for us, but he doesn’t like it when we try to do the same for him. He’s…well…” I rubbed at my forehead, getting a headache just picturing it. “He’d be very, very mad if he learned about it. I’d rather not have to put up with him in a mood, thanks.”

She had that unreadable expression on her face again. “One would think, listening to you, that you didn’t have any nobility in you.”

I snorted. “I’m a pirate, and you expect nobility?”

“You regularly save the people around you and don’t expect rewards for it. I believe that is what nobility means.”

Damn woman is making me blush. Clearing my throat I asked, “What did you come in here for?”

“Oh, you’re not going to deny that?” her mouth lifted into a smirk. 

“Robin.”

Smirk widening, she didn’t continue to tease, thankfully, but said instead, “I actually came in here to distract you. Chopper predicted that you would try to escape the minute his back was turned.”

“Dammit,” I grumbled under my breath. He’s more clever than I gave him credit for.

“Actually, there is information that you have that I want to learn.” 

I blinked at her. “I have information that you want?”

“As it happens, yes.” She held up two fingers. “Two things, really. The first is, can you tell me the full history of this crew before I came into it? Sometimes all of you react to things in a surprising manner, because of something that happened before, and it’s quite baffling to me.”

Oh. Come to think of it, it would be. She hadn’t joined us until we left Alabasta, there was a lot of history she was missing. “Sure, I guess. What’s the other question?”

“Your swords. You seem quite familiar with the history for each one, and yet I have no knowledge of them at all. Where do each of them come from?”

That second question wandered into more personal territory for me. Well, with the Wado it did. But I could tell her most of it and skip the part of how I inherited it, I suppose. And talking to her would not only give her information she wanted, but it would keep me from going crazy. “Are you wanting to know about the swords just because of curiosity?”

“It’s living history, in a way,” she explained, eyes intent on the three swords resting near the headboard. “I can’t resist asking.”

Fair enough. “I’ll start with them, first. It’ll take less time to explain than everything the crew has gotten into.”

“Alright.” She crossed her arms over her knees and leaned toward me, expression intense. “Tell me about the white one first. It’s your first sword, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s called the Wado Ichimonji. Its maker was…” As I detailed the crafting and history of all three swords, Robin listened to me intently, making notes and sometimes stopping me to ask further questions. She even attempted to draw the swords—attempt being a kind word for it. For such a talented woman, art was definitely her weak point. I could tell it was a sword, but other than that….

The conversation was strangely enjoyable. I don’t know how much time passed but I went through the history of the swords and started on how I met a scrawny kid with a straw hat. I had to shift now and again as my injuries pulled at me, making certain positions uncomfortable after any length of time. I kept getting these weird muscle spasms in my right hand, too. 

Robin noticed—I’m beginning to think there’s little she doesn’t notice—and put her notebook aside before reaching out and taking my hand in both of hers. I stumbled to a stop mid-sentence, confused by what she was doing. “It’s just a spasm, Robin. It’ll pass.”  
“I think I can help.” Her thumbs spread out over my palm in a slow, soothing motion. “I’ve been studying Chopper’s books, remember?”

Oh. Yeah, she had said that. “Testing your knowledge on me, eh?”

Robin glanced up, caught my smile, and shrugged. “Why not? Your tolerance level for pain is higher, after all.”

She has such a demented sense of humor. I laughed in spite of myself. “So I’m a better guinea pig? Thanks for that.” 

“Continue,” she encouraged me, her eyes intent on what her hands were doing. “You were tied to a stake for execution and…?”

I had a hard time focusing on what I should say as honestly, her touch was the first good thing I’d felt in days. In this small, enclosed room, it was easy to smell her too, a sweet scent that tugged at me. I was too injured to have any real reaction to it, but there was a purely male part of me that enjoyed the attentions from a beautiful woman. But I picked up the story where I’d left off, telling of how I’d become the first crew member of the Straw Hat Pirates. 

“You left with him in that small boat? Just like that?” she asked curiously. 

“Didn’t you do the same?” I turned the question right back around. “I mean, you just got on our ship—without even an invitation—and joined the crew.”

“It’s entirely different,” she denied. “You hadn’t seen his full fighting power at that time, had you? And he barely had a boat to go to sea with. I, on the other hand, joined when he had a crew and a ship to sail on. I’d also been saved by him.”

“Was it really that—him saving you—that made you follow him?” I’d always wanted to ask her that question. Now seemed like a good time to do so. “You said something about you not wanting to live so he had to take ‘responsibility’ for you.”

“I meant my words quite literally. I had given up, then, on ever seeing my dream to fruition. I didn’t see any hope for the future and I wanted to die down there.” Her hands gradually stopped and her eyes went dark with remembered pain. “But he wouldn’t let me. He grabbed me and hauled me back to the surface, determined that I should live. I didn’t know what to do with myself. In hindsight, it was selfish to demand that my savior be responsible for me.”

Very much so. Luffy hadn’t seemed to mind it, though. Perhaps he’d known instinctively that if he just gave Robin a little time, she’d find her feet again. 

Shaking her head at herself, she asked, “How is it? Better?”

“Shaking’s gone,” I assured her, relieved that her attention had worked. 

“Other hand?”

“Oh, please.”

Robin picked up the left hand and started doing her gentle massaging again. “We’ve been sidetracked, I’m afraid. You got into the boat with him, and then…”

“And then we got into more trouble. We always do when Luffy’s around.” I swear he has a trouble magnet in him somewhere. “But this time, trouble had a name to it: Nami.”

What might have been a soft laugh came from Robin. “Is that right? She was the next to join?”

“Well, yes and no. It was rather complicated at first. In fact, it depends on who you ask on who joined after me. You ask Luffy, it’s Nami, because to him she was always a comrade. If you ask Usopp, he’ll say he was next, cause he agreed to be part of the crew before Nami did.” Me, I was just confused and didn’t care to think about it. “See, this was how it worked—”

At that point, Franky stuck his head in through the door, talking as he did. “Zoro-bro, Sanji said dinner would be ready in a minute and to call both of you if you’re…up…”   
he paused, taking in our position with a slow blink. “Ah, I’m interrupting.”

“Not at all,” Robin demurred, meaning it. “Zoro-san, I’ll fetch a tray for you.”

“Eh, no!” I protested. “I can eat with everyone.”

“Your whole body is throbbing because you’re sitting upright, you’re not in any condition to walk freely about,” she told me firmly. “Please, stay there while I fetch a tray.” 

The way that her hands twitched, as if wanting to use her Devil’s Fruit power to physically hold me here, told me she was serious. In my condition, she probably could hold me down with ease. Dammit. Sighing, I held up a hand in surrender. “Fine.”

Pleased to have gotten her way, she sauntered out of the room and toward the kitchen.

Franky watched her go for a moment before turning back to me, wheels obviously turning in his head. 

“Don’t get ideas, Franky,” I said with a roll of the eyes. I could practically see a stupid theory being formed in his head. 

He cocked his head. “I’ve never seen her touch someone else before, not on purpose.”

“She was using me as a guinea pig for her new medical knowledge,” I explained. Turns out, she wasn’t half bad at putting theory into practice. 

“Hmmm.” His tone didn’t sound as if he completely believed me. “And the reason why she was in here for several hours was because?”

“Chopper sicced her on me to make me behave.” Not that I minded, now. Turns out, Robin’s good company. 

“Right.” Again, for some reason his tone made me think he didn’t really believe me. With another, penetrating look at me, he turned back around. “Looks like I have a new project for the Sunny.”

What the hell was he talking about? I watched him go, baffled. He didn’t even try to explain that cryptic sentence, just left as abruptly as he came in. Well, whatever the reason, I had perhaps a minute before either Robin or Chopper came back. Now would be a good time to wash up a little and change clothes. 

I’d been praying that I would heal up quickly, just because I’d been so bored while recuperating, but if tomorrow was anything like today, maybe I wouldn’t mind the injuries quite so much.


	4. Chapter Four

Our time in Thriller Bark had gained us a new crewmember—Brook. As comrades go, he wasn’t a bad addition. He’s a skilled swordsman, an experienced pirate, and he doesn’t have a tendency to leap into danger unlike a certain captain we had. Granted, because Luffy was the one who picked him, he wasn’t normal either. Brook is probably the only living skeleton in the known world. His Devil Fruit was to thank (blame?) for that. 

One of the things that I liked best about him was that Brook was a skilled musician and was able to play several instruments. Luffy had always claimed from day one that he wanted a musician as a crewmate, and he’d finally gotten his wish fulfilled. I had to admit, it was nice, being able to hear music out here on the open sea. 

Now, having music playing aboard the Sunny was not unheard of. Most of the songs that Brook likes to play, I can recognize, though. This one was new to me. It had a sort of…I don’t know, up tempo beat to it. I’m not a music expert, I couldn’t begin to pinpoint what type it was. 

I’m used to tuning out noise while I nap on the deck. It’s a habit that’s carried over from the Merry. I keep napping here because it’s the best place to respond to danger, if something happens. When you’re sailing the Grand Line, it’s bound to happen. Although I wasn’t in any real shape to respond to danger at the moment. I’d healed considerably since leaving Thriller Bark, but I wasn’t 100% yet. I kept napping here out of sheer habit, I guess.

Brook picked up the tempo of the music, guitar nearly humming. Tuning out this music proved to be impossible, not with the other sounds that came with it—the clapping, swishing of material, and the light feminine laughter. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I opened my eyes, looking around for the source. Brook had a guitar in his hands as he leaned against the mast, his fingers flying over the strings, foot tapping a happy rhythm. He looked like he was playing…for…

For about three seconds, I forgot how to breathe. 

My mouth felt dry, face hot, heart beating quick and hard. Holy mother of…that’s just…hnng. 

Before my incredulous eyes Robin and Nami were dancing. I mean dancing. With hips moving, breasts swaying, legs flashing dancing. Robin was definitely better at it. In fact, the way Nami watched her so carefully, it was obvious she was copying what the taller woman was doing. Robin had one hand on her hip, and she swayed her hips in an inviting way as she took small steps to the side before turning around in a circle and doing the same thing the other way. Then she turned again, her arm coming down in a sharp way, torso bending toward the ground, then up again in a graceful, smooth movement. 

I licked my lips and was surprised I wasn’t drooling. 

Don’t get me wrong, I knew before that Nami and Robin are both beautiful women. You’d have to be blind and six feet under to not notice. But, well, they were comrades. They were scary comrades. One of them can chuck lightning bolts at you and the other can strangle you without technically lifting a finger. So I never considered them like that. 

Until this dance. 

Franky came and sat down next to me with a grunt. He had a smirk on his face as he drawled, “Super sexy, isn’t it?”

I nodded dumbly. I didn’t trust myself to talk just yet. 

“They started doing this about thirty minutes ago,” he supplied without any prompting from me. He slicked his blue hair up and more away from his eyes so he could get a clearer look. “I don’t know how it got started, only Nami found out that Robin knew how to do latin dancing. Hence the dance lesson.” 

And where and when did Robin learn, was my next question. No, the real next question is, how many lessons will it take before Nami feels like she’s got the hang of this? A lot, I hope. 

Franky leaned a little closer and whispered, “You might want to pick your jaw up off the deck, bro.”

I snapped my mouth shut and shot him a glare. For some reason, he smirked wider at this. 

The idiot cook appeared from the kitchen at this point, a tray of drinks in his hands. As usual, there were only two of them, because he never brought snacks to the rest of us unless we pestered him into it. He took one look at the dancing girls and his eyes went heart-shaped. “Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, you look stunning dancing like that!”

Wait for it…three…two…one…yup, his nose was bleeding. Gushing, actually. 

He’s so predictable. 

Chopper raced for the bleeding man, grabbing a handkerchief out of his pocket as he moved. “Sanji, you’re bleeding!”

Sanji was too mesmerized by the scene in front of him to even react to Chopper climbing him like a tree to reach his nose. 

The girls, pretty much used to Sanji being a love-struck idiot, ignored him and kept dancing. Or they did until he came right up to them with drinks in hand. Then they stopped and gratefully each took a glass.

“Thanks, Sanji-kun,” Robin said with a smile, her other hand fanning her face. “I forgot how hot this makes me.”

“You look hot,” Sanji assured her, nose still gushing blood. Chopper had several bandages shoved against his nose now, trying to stem the tide, but all it did was muffle the cook’s words. 

For once, the idiot and I were in agreement. They did look hot, doing that. 

Nami, who has a talent for embarrassing me, turned and gave me a smirk, hand on her hip in a suggestive way. “What did you think, Zoro? We were sexy, weren’t we? Or do I even need to ask?”

To cover up my own reaction, I snorted and said dryly, “You would have been if I didn’t know why you were learning. I know good and well that you’ll use this to con men out of their money somehow.” 

For that, she threw the drink at me. 

Of course I caught it easily, laughing. She’s funny when she gets mad. Well, she’s not funny when she has her weapon that Usopp made for her, but she didn’t have that on her right now. 

“Don’t listen to him, Nami,” Franky told her with a glint in his eye. “You and Robin were both smokin’.”

I can’t argue with that. 

“What was that dance called?” Chopper asked, still pressing bandages against Sanji’s nose. (The idiot had at this point fainted from hormone overload and was twitching on the grass. I silently wished him a non-recovery.)

“The Machete,” Robin supplied before taking a long drink from her glass.

“The Machete?” I couldn’t help but repeat in bemusement. Why would anyone name such a sexy dance after a weapon?

“This movement,” Robin twirled her arm into the air and then came down with it, her hand nearly touching the grass in a graceful swing, “is called a ‘machete,’ that’s why.”

Oh. No, wait, I still don’t see. Why name a dance move after a weapon at all?

“You’re good at this,” Franky complimented her. “I’ve seen people dance this before, but they messed it up mostly. Course, a lot of them were drunk trying it.”

“That probably didn’t help their balance any,” Nami agreed with an expressive roll of the eyes. “Well, if Zoro’s reaction is anything to go by, then I should be able to use this to my advantage very well.” 

Provoked by her words, I shot back without thinking, “Who said I was watching you?”

“Hoooo.” Nami grinned at me evilly. 

Franky and Brook let out a whistle, both of them grinning (well, with Brook it’s hard to tell, but I assumed he was because he was laughing). 

Robin just looked at me with eyebrows arched, an amused half-smile on her face. I think she knew that I’d said that just because of what Nami had said, but it was the truth, too. I hadn’t really been paying attention to Nami. 

My face felt on fire, and I knew I had to be blushing. Cursing under my breath, I shot to my feet and quickly retreated to the crow’s nest. 

“Coward!” Nami called after me teasingly. 

I swore to myself I’d get even with her later. 

ӜӜӜ

The night seemed perfectly peaceful, the sea flat and smooth like glass, reflecting the moon in a glowing haze. I’ve seen pictures like this one hanging on people’s walls, but to me, those pictures wouldn’t have done this scene justice. Seeing it with your own eyes, smelling the sea air, hearing the gentle laps of the waves against the boat…nothing could replace this. I sat in the nest, one leg tucked up under the other, with a window propped open. It had to be near midnight, now, as I’d taken over the watch a while ago. On nights like this, I didn’t mind having second watch. 

In the old days, when we still had the Merry, I had some pretty miserable watches. The weather doesn’t care if a man has to sit in the crow’s nest and watch out for dangers, after all. I’d sat through snow storms, rain storms, freezing cold weather and humid nights that nearly drowned me in my own sweat. I missed the Merry in many ways, but not having to stand watch in the open. Franky’s design for an enclosed crow’s nest was genius, in my opinion. And I didn’t say that just because it gave me a nice, out-of-the-way place to train, either. 

The hatch opened on slightly creaking hinges—need to remember to oil those—and Robin’s head popped through. I blinked, startled that anyone would be awake at this hour of the night. It couldn’t be time to change shifts—I still had a good two hours left. I put a hand on Wado and asked her sharply, “Problem?”

“Not of the sort you can fight off,” she responded, coming all the way through. “I…wish for your advice.”

My what now? I didn’t know which to be confused about first, that she willingly asked for advice, or that she came to me for it. I’ve seen Robin go to someone for help exactly once, after we left Alabasta. When she’d been lost and unwilling to keep living, she’d gone to Luffy, demanding that he take care of her. (Which he hadn’t. But no one but she had expected him to.) Still, that was the only time I remembered her asking for help of any sort. So the fact that she came to me for it was alarming. Just how serious was this?

And why in the world did she come to me? This part was equally confusing, as she seemed more open with Nami than anyone else on board. Granted, we’d gotten into the habit of talking a lot more recently, mostly because of my recovery after Thriller Bark. And we’d discovered that both of us enjoyed a good round of poker so we often had games after dinner. But I didn’t think she trusted my opinion enough to come looking for it. 

One look at her face said she was dead serious, though. I waved her closer, silently inviting her to sit on the bench with me. Whatever this was, I would hear her out. Whether or not I’d have an answer for her, well…we’ll see. 

“I found several books on Thriller Bark and added them to the library,” she started in a very neutral tone of voice, even for her. 

I quirked a brow at her. She’d brought more books along? Color me surprised. “And?”

“One of them was a recently printed history regarding Ohara.” 

Uh-oh. I had a bad premonition where this was going. 

She couldn’t seem to meet my eyes, instead looking out the window as she explained in soft tones, “I read it out of curiosity. I wanted to know what the world was being told of my island’s destruction. It was…I barely recognized the accounting in the book. It was a complete fabrication. I lived through that day and didn’t recognize a single event written.”

Yeah. That didn’t surprise me either. “Robin, one of the advantages of being the victor is that you can tell what happened any way you please. Did you really think that the World Government would tell the truth?”

“No. But I expected at least part of it to be truth. I didn’t think all of it would be a lie.” She wrapped her arms around her, and for just a moment I could see how upset she really was over this. For a split second, she looked like a lost child. It made my protective instincts sit up and take notice. “Zoro-san, I’ve tried to let this go. I’ve tried to ignore it, because you’re right—they’ll tell the events of that day in a favorable light to them. As the victors, they won’t hesitate to do so. But I find myself unable to ignore it.”

And so, restless and edgy, she couldn’t sleep and instead came to the one person she knew was awake? Okay, this was starting to make more sense. “I’m not sure what to tell you, Robin.”

She shook her head, the motion almost angry. “Tell me what you would do.”

I blinked at her. “Me?”

“If I tell the others about this, I know how they’ll respond. Luffy doesn’t care about things like this. Neither would Brook. Sanji, Franky and Chopper would volunteer to go beat up the man who wrote the book, or published it, or something. Nami would comfort me, try to tell me that I shouldn’t pay attention to anything the World Government does. But none of this helps. None of it would solve the problem. What would you do? You always say exactly what needs to be done.”

Where in the wide ocean did she get that opinion from? I say stuff all the time that I don’t mean. Rubbing at the back of my head, I tried to find a good answer for her. “What I would do…huh. Yeah, I don’t think that’s the right question to ask. A better one is, what are you capable of doing to correct it?”

She went very, very still, eyes fixed on me. “What do you mean by that?”

I had an idea in my head, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good one. In fact, it felt half-baked to me, probably because I hadn’t had a chance to think it all the way through yet. Still, she’d come to me for a solution. Good or bad, I’d give her what I had. “Words are weapons, Robin. You taught me that. Now, you’re a smart woman. You’ve read more books than anyone I know. I bet after all that reading, you’d know how to write one. If you don’t like what the World Government is saying, why don’t you write your own account of what happened? You’re the only one that can, after all. Set the record straight. Publish it so that other people know.”

For a long moment Robin just stared at me, no reaction at all to my words. Her mouth opened, closed, then she said in a dazed tone, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

I shrugged. No idea. 

“It’s so simple, so obvious,” she continued. “Why didn’t I think of that? Zoro-san, you’re brilliant.”

With no warning whatsoever, she threw both arms around my neck and hugged me hard. I had no idea how to react to this sudden armful of female, but managed to get one hand up to pat her gently on the back. Having her pressed up against me was making me blush, too, dammit. Doesn’t she have any awareness that she possesses an amazing figure for a woman? Isn’t she also aware that I’m a man? No, she’s so used to me treating her like a comrade that she probably doesn’t think along those lines anymore. “I think you’re exaggerating, a little,” I said into her shoulder. The words sounded muffled.

“I’m not. I’ve been stewing over this problem for two days. I should have come to you from the start.” With one last squeeze, she let go of me, a winsome smile on her face. 

That beautiful, excited expression made my heart skip a beat. I’ve never seen her look like that before. It made her…stunning. 

“Thank you ever so much!” She twirled about, headed straight for the hatch. “I’ll get started on it.”

It took a second for her words to penetrate. “Wait, now?” I protested. “It’s after midnight! Sleep first, start in the morning.” 

“No, I’m too excited,” she denied, already halfway through the hatch. “I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Robin, you can’t write a whole book in one night!” I didn’t think. I mean, that’s a lot to write in a few hours, right? 

She paused, half-way on the ladder, to answer me. “But if I start on it now, I might be able to get it done by the time we reach Sabaody. Then I can get it printed there, have it dispersed while we travel the rest of the Grand Line.” 

How in the world had she already come up for a timeline for this? And a plan of attack? If she really can think that many moves ahead that quickly, she’d be formidable at chess. I made a mental note to never play that game with her. She’d massacre me. “Do I need to take your watch for the next few days?” I asked her, starting to see the humor in all of this. 

“No, don’t do that,” she negated although she gave me a grateful smile as she spoke. “After all, you’re still recovering. I can write and keep watch at the same time.”

Well, seeing the way she so easily multi-tasks, she probably can at that. “Alright. But I’m recovered enough to switch with you, if you feel like you need more time.”

“I’ll remember,” she promised. She left quickly at that point, and I swear I heard humming as she descended. 

Shaking my head in bemusement, I went and shut the hatch behind her. An excited Robin was quite the sight. 

I’m glad I could help?


	5. Chapter Five

For the record, I'm pretty sure this isn't my fault.

Okay, it might be partially my fault.

Maybe.

I'd been napping on the deck, as usual, after some 'light training.' Chopper had this silly notion that I shouldn't be doing my usual amount of training since I wasn't fully healed yet. I told him I was taking it easy, which I was, mostly. (At least, I hadn't busted any stitches.) I might have overdone it a bit this morning, as my body was throbbing with pain, making it hard to rest. My sleep had been troubled with dreams, bad ones.

Chopper saw me and had the noble but incredibly misguided idea to come and try to wake me up from my nightmare. I came awake in split second, my first instinct to punch whoever it was leaning over me, hand continuing the motion to reach for the sword at my side.

It wasn't until I heard his grunt at the impact that I realized who I'd just punched.

Not realizing it was a friend, I hadn't pulled the punch at all, and hit him full force. I'd knocked Chopper out cold. In a panic, I called the only other person on board who had any medical knowledge: Robin.

Now I just stood here, standing over Chopper's bedside as the little guy lay completely still on the mattress, Robin applying a cold compress to his swollen cheek. I felt guilty as all hell. I realize that Chopper can be monstrously strong as an opponent, when he is prepared, but most of the time he's in that Brain Point form of his, which makes him look like a stuffed animal. I've ranked people on this ship in terms of combat ability and most of the time, I consider Chopper to be in the 'Largely Defenseless' category.

Robin glanced at me. "It's not your fault, Zoro-san."

I grunted, not really in the mood to talk about it.

"It was an accident," she continued, changing the cold cloth for another one. "And an easily prevented one in the future. From now on, when you have a bad dream like that one, I'll wake you up. And from a safe distance."

"Yeah, fine," I sighed. That still leaves me with the question of how do I make this up to Chopper?

She let the silence stretch between us before asking slowly, "What were you dreaming about?"

I'd normally shrug this off and not answer, but something made me respond. "It was a memory of Skypiea, actually."

That made her sit up and fully look at me. "You dream of that often."

I'd been caught jerking awake, or saying things in my sleep several times because of what happened on that sky-island. I guess it wasn't a surprise to her that I'd done it again.

She tilted her head slightly in question. "Which part of that experience troubles you so much that it haunts your dreams?"

"A lot of it bothers me." I intended to leave it there, but my mouth kept going. "That moment when you were hit by lightning, that's what I hate most. I was right there, but I didn't react in time."

She gave me a bemused look. "I was hit by lightning. What could you have done to prevent that?"

"Something," I said firmly. What, we'll never know, since I hadn't had a chance to try anything.

"Like what?" she pressed.

"I don't know, something. He had to aim that lightning ability of his, right? If I had just moved you out of the way, put a slab of rock between you and the sky, you wouldn't have been hit."

She regarded me silently for a moment. "I've always been confused by the insult of 'you pansy.'"

…where the hell did that comment come from? We weren't talking about pansies.

"It's meant to insinuate that someone is weak. But did you know, that pansies can survive blizzards and cold storms that would kill any mammal?"

I gave her a frustrated look. "What are you on about?"

"My point is, you look at me and see someone that is delicate, someone that needs protection. But I'm stronger than I look, Zoro-san." She gave me a smile that softened the rebuke. "Although I'll grant you that it's very nice to have someone to fight with. I grew weary of constantly fighting on my own."

I scratched my head, mulling her words over, but all I really got out of it was that she didn't blame me for not helping her in that moment. Which was great, and all, but it didn't change this inner conviction that I should have done something more.

"Besides, at that time you didn't even like me on board ship," she continued. "You didn't trust me at all. I'm still surprised that you reacted as you did, catching me before I hit the ground."

Okay, that I couldn't let slide. "I followed you around in the jungle for hours, and you think I didn't trust you at all?"

She opened her mouth, paused, and closed it again with a thoughtful frown. "But isn't that why you followed me? Because you didn't trust me?"

Chopper let out a groan and lifted a hand to his swollen cheek. The conversation stopped abruptly there as we both leaned over him.

"Chopper?" Robin said gently.

"Owwwwww," he moaned as his eyes slowly opened. "What hit me…? Oh."

I rubbed at the back of my head, not quite able to meet his eyes. "Sorry."

"It's okay, Zoro. You didn't do it on purpose," he assured me, trying to smile around a swollen cheek.

Why, why couldn't it have been Usopp, or Franky, or Luffy I'd punched? Or better yet, that love-cook? All of those guys are good at taking damage, and I wouldn't have felt bad about hitting any of them. I tugged at my hair harder, grimacing. "Just do us both a favor? The next time you see me tossing and turning like that, throw something at me from a distance. Or get Robin to wake me up."

"Chopper, it's best not to approach men like Zoro-san carelessly while they're asleep," Robin said in a lecturing tone. "People who have seen a great deal of fighting and combat, they tend to relive those moments in their sleep from time to time. The dreams seem very real to them. They'll react with deadly force to any contact."

"Hoo?" Chopper sat up fully, completely interested in what Robin was saying. "I've never heard of something like that. Doctorine was not one for psychology. You've seen this before?"

"Yes, several times," she confirmed.

And…that's my cue to leave. I shifted one foot backwards, boot scrapping the wood floor slightly, which unfortunately caught their attention. I felt pinned in place by those intense stares. "Wh-what?"

"Zoro," Chopper asked in his doctor-voice. "What were you dreaming of?"

I sighed. I supposed, to make up for before, I should answer his questions. Dammit. "Skypiea."

Chopper changed out the compress with Robin's help, holding it up to his cheek as he continued to grill me. "This dream reoccurs often, right? What else do you dream of? Do these dreams occur more than once a month? How frequently?"

"Listen, both of you, dreaming of past battles isn't unusual!" I crossed my arms over my chest, defensive, with an eyebrow cocked in challenge. "My master taught me that it was just a consequence of fighting. The only time it's a pain is when I accidentally hit someone I'm not supposed to because they carelessly get too close."

"I think this needs to be treated," Chopper maintained firmly. "I'll do some research."

And do what? Sit around and talk about my problems all day when I could be training? "No thanks."

Robin, tactfully, rose from her chair and quietly left the room at that point. I breathed out a sigh of relief, not really wanting to argue about this in front of her.

"Zoro, this isn't healthy," Chopper insisted.

I rubbed a hand over my face and let out a long sigh. "Chopper, listen, I don't really dream about anything except Skypiea. The other battles I only remember once in a long while."

"Why does that make it better?"

"Because I understand why it bothers me so much." I sank down into the chair, putting us more on eye level. "Keep this to yourself, alright?"

He raised a hand in assurance, as if swearing an oath. "A doctor never talks about his patients! What is it?"

"I always dream about that moment when Robin was hit by lightning. I…regret…not defending her better."

Chopper gave me the same blank stare Robin had earlier. "Zoro, she was hit by lightning. What could you have possibly done?"

"I don't know," I sighed in aggravation. "Something. In the dream, I'm always shouting out a warning to her. It just…bothers me. Seeing her hurt like that."

"Why?" Even though he asked, something about Chopper's expression indicated that he already knew.

"Because she's been hurt too much already. Look, everyone on this ship has a pretty rough past." Some rougher than others. "I get that. But Robin…I don't know anyone that can top what she went through. She saw her home, her whole island, burn in front of her eyes. She lost her family that day. I think she's suffered enough. I don't want to see her hurt anymore."

He nodded in understanding. "That's why you're so careful with her. I'd wondered. You're more protective of her than anyone else in the crew."

Finally, he got it.

Chopper raised a hand in surrender. "Alright, I'll leave this be. But if the dreams get worse or occur more frequently, then I want you to tell me. I think I can help."

No way did I need help like that but I said, "Sure," just to appease him.

There was a soft knock on the door. Robin poked her head inside the room. "Might I intrude?"

I waved her in. "We're done."

She gave me an odd look at that, as if she couldn't imagine that our conversation had really been that brief. I snorted. Unlike certain people on board this ship, I don't care to whine at length. Surely she knew that about me by now.

Robin must have believed me as she came fully inside, a bowl of ice cream in her hands. "I thought this would feel good for your swollen mouth, Chopper."

Chopper's eyes started twinkling as if he had suddenly ingested stars somehow. "Oooh! Great idea!"

I shook my head in amusement. Next you know, Chopper will be prescribing ice cream to cure all ills the same way Luffy would meat. But with him safely distracted, I could get out of here before he thought of another uncomfortably pointed question. I stood from the chair and scooted around Robin for the door.

Before I could get more than two steps she put a hand on my arm, holding me in place.

Her hand on me was light, barely felt through my shirt. I could have brushed it off easily. But this was only the second time that Robin had voluntarily reached out toward me. I was as rooted to the spot as if my boots were in cement.

In a low murmur, so soft I could barely hear her, she said, "Don't dwell on that dark moment for my sake. Regret wears at the soul and wearies the mind. Make peace with that moment and leave it behind you."

She caught my eye, her gaze clear and strong. I didn't see a trace of any reproach or disappointment. Faced with those unwavering eyes, I found myself forgiving my own weakness…a little. I managed a nod, which satisfied her. She turned back to Chopper, asking if he wanted any painkillers now that he was awake.

I made it out of the room, shut the door behind me, and drew in a deep breath.

Nightmares, punching people and confessions. What a morning this had turned out to be. I turned on my heel, heading for the second level of the ship and a big tub of steaming water.

I had some thinking to do.


	6. Chapter Six

I had every intention of ducking into the kitchen long enough to grab a cup of coffee, maybe something to eat if anything were handy, when a newspaper on the table caught my eye. Once in a while I read the paper, just to keep abreast of things but I admit, I didn’t pay attention to it that often. 

This time, though, it was Hawk-Eye’s picture on the front along with several other familiar faces. Ever since my defeat... fight with him, I’d tried to keep tabs on the man. If I ever got a chance for a rematch, I wanted to take it though I might need some more training before I really stood a chance. But I’d certainly gotten stronger since our last encounter. Anyway, I wanted to know where the man was if I could. 

Picking it up, I unfolded it so that I could read it. Hmm, seems this had something to do with a call for all of the Shichibukai for some meeting but the article didn’t mention specifically what the meeting was for. I swear, sometimes the World Government just likes to flaunt that it has pirates for lapdogs. Calling them to heel like this was just embarrassing to watch. 

Unless they had good reason to hold that meeting…hmm. I wonder if something was stirring? Something that we don’t know about yet?

The kitchen door opened behind me. Before I really had a chance to look and see who it was, a particularly annoying voice scoffed, “Reading the comic section, Moss-head? Need me to pronounce anything for you?”

Why that… I turned just enough to give him a glare. “Shut it, Love Cook.”

“I know very well you don’t have the brains to read that,” he jerked his chin to indicate the newspaper in my hands. “Don’t try and pretend otherwise. Your brain will fry.”

I slapped the paper down to the table. “You wanna go, bastard?”

He got right up in my face, that cigarette of his sending disgusting smoke up my nose. “Fine by me. Let’s take it outside.”

Chopper, who apparently was close enough to overhear through the open door, sprinted into the room. “Wait, wait, wait! No fighting!”

Neither Sanji nor I even glanced at him, just headed for the door. 

Chopper splayed himself across the doorway, blocking our path. “I mean it!” he said sternly. “Zoro, you’re not healed enough to get into any fights, not even mock-fights with friends.”

Mock-fight? Ha! I never pretended to fight with this idiot. 

“And besides, after that explosion yesterday, Usopp used up all of my clean bandages. I can’t treat you guys if you get injured,” he added. 

Ahh, I bet that was the real reason. “Don’t worry about it,” I told Chopper with a wave of the hand. “I’ll kill him quick and clean and toss him overboard. You won’t need to worry about a thing.”

“Haaaa?” Sanji demanded, getting back in my face. “You bastard, you think you’re strong enough to take me?”

“Is the sky blue?”

Chopper (rightly) decided that he didn’t have what it took to stop us and called for help. “Robin!”

“What is it?” I heard her ask calmly. 

“Come stop them,” Chopper pleaded. 

Uh-oh. I couldn’t help but glance a little nervously toward the door. Why did he have to call Robin, of all people? 

Robin stepped in from the hot sun outside and blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the cooler interior of the kitchen. She took in our positions with one look and then quirked an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

“They’re trying to fight each other,” Chopper explained quickly. “But Zoro shouldn’t be fighting yet and I don’t have bandages to treat them with if they do!”

“Hmmm.” She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t need to. She just pinned me with a look and I knew exactly what it meant. 

Argh, dammit. 

At the time, it had seemed such a good idea. Robin had been overdoing it, working all night on her book, standing watch, and even helping Love Cook out in the kitchen. She was beyond tired. So exhausted, in fact, that she’d almost toppled overboard one night and straight into the ocean. If I hadn’t been miraculously awake at that time of the night and saw her swaying, we’d have lost her to the depths of the sea. 

After I’d dragged her well free of the railing, I’d demanded, “When I gave you that idea of writing a book, I didn’t intend for it to be the death of you! Woman, this is crazy. You lost sleep worrying about what to do, now you’re losing sleep trying to fix the problem!”

“I’m fine,” she insisted calmly, as if she hadn’t been this close to taking a dive into Davy’s Locker.

“The hell you are. Stop and go to bed, get some proper rest.”

Instead of agreeing, she’d stubbornly argued with me instead. “If you can push yourself past your limits,” she’d snapped, “then I can do the same!”

Of course, she’d had a point. Not that I went overboard like she did, no pun intended, but she did have a point. So we’d made a promise to each other. If she would stop being reckless and get some proper rest, I’d not fight until I was properly healed up and Chopper gave me the okay. 

A promise that she reminded me of with a single look. Ah, hell. 

“But he’s completely weaker than me!” I protested. “It’s not the same thing!”

“Oy!” Sanji protested loudly, squawking at the insult. 

Robin held my eyes steadily, that impenetrable smile on her face. 

I wanted to splutter, and argue, and convince her that I hadn’t meant any fighting at all, just fights with, y’know, opponents stronger than me. Or as strong as me. Which doesn’t include this idiot cook at all. But I was clearly aware that we had an audience unabashedly listening in. That look on Robin’s face also told me that whatever I said would be useless and my pride would just take a ding if I kept going. 

So I snapped my mouth shut instead and glared at her. 

“You promised,” she reminded me serenely. 

…yeah. Yeah I did. Dammit. 

Sanji stared at my face like he couldn’t believe that one look from Robin could make me stand down like this. Completely incredulous, he asked Robin, “Robin-chan, you are so beautiful that I would gladly stop fighting if only to gaze at your gorgeous visage…but Moss-head, what did you do?! Since when do you care about a beautiful woman?”

I gave him a glare hot enough to melt steel. I hoped it covered up the blush I could feel heating my skin. That wasn’t what this was about at all but I really didn’t want to explain or justify myself to this mush-for-brains lug either. 

Ignoring the question, (she was good at tuning out things she didn’t want to answer) Robin instead asked me, “What started the fight?”

I jerked a thumb at him. “He walked into the room.”

Sanji snapped back around and with a curled lip sniped, “You were reading something and you don’t expect me to comment? I mean, you were reading. That’s like finding Luffy playing chess!”

“I do read, you idiot,” I snarled back. 

“No you don’t!”

“Yes, he does,” Robin came to my defense with an amused chuckle. “And more often than you would think. He’s got several books of his own in the library. He also read the book that I bought him, didn’t he?”

“Robin-chan, you are so sweet to only think the best of people, but this stupid Moss-head does not read. If he said he did it was only because you so generously gave it to him.”

I grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him in close. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Moss-head, that you have a thing for my precious Robin-chan!” Sanji locked eyes with me and raised his eyebrow knowingly, not giving ground at all. “I mean, look at you, you’re even kowtowing to her!”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Actually, he isn’t,” Robin intervened again, putting both arms between us and gently shoving us back apart. 

Of course, even that gentle touch was enough to do so, simply because it was her between us. (She knows good and well that we’d rather lose a hand than harm her and takes advantage of it. I know she does.) 

“Robin-chan, you come in here and just look at him and he obediently stops trying to fight me!” Sanji protested, now genuinely confused. “Robin-chan, you are so wonderful that I must listen to you, but I can’t help but notice that he obediently stopped trying to fight me when you gave him a look. Please tell me that he has not done anything to compromise your virtue. Oi, you bastard, what did you do to her?!”

My fist started twitching. Surely one solid punch to that mouth of his wouldn’t count as fighting? Right? I pictured running that reasoning past Robin and frowned. Even in my head, it didn’t work. 

(Unfortunately?) Robin stepped in before I could come up with a Plan B. “He made a promise to me, and I to him. He’s keeping his end of the bargain.” She patted him on the shoulder in an affectionate, patronizing manner, the way a mother would soothe a scowling child. “You can play with him later, when he’s fully healed.” 

Sanji, naturally, missed the sarcasm completely just because Robin was smiling at him and voluntarily touching him. He beamed at her before shooting a promising glare at me. 

I glared right back. Yeah, as soon as I could, I would beat the snot out of him. But not now. I didn’t dare now, because if I broke my promise, Robin would feel free to break hers too. I didn’t want to have to guard her 24/7 because she had driven herself back into exhaustion. 

Knowing good and well that if I stayed there, I’d get into a fight with Sanji, I chose instead to escape the kitchen without my coffee. Brows slammed together, I grumbled under my breath and headed instead for the crow’s nest. At least there I’d get some peace. 

I’d barely settled on the bench when the hatch opened and Robin came through. She had two extra hands coming out of her shoulders, both of them holding a cup of steaming coffee. Without a word, she gave one of them to me before joining me on the bench.

I took a long swallow, pleasantly surprised to find that she’d fixed it the way that I like it. Now, when had she learned how to do that? I think I’m the only person on ship that only puts one sugar in and no cream. “How did you know I like it like this?”

“I have eyes,” she said mildly, tone amused. “Two of them. They both work quite well.”

Is there anything that she doesn’t notice? I swear some days that there’s not a thing on this ship that she doesn’t see. It might look like she’s innocently sitting there reading a book, but I’d lay odds that it was a just a cover so she could spy on people.

“I’m sorry,” she offered after a long moment of silence. 

I let out a sigh. “For what?”

“Bruising your male ego.”

I gave her a sour look for that. “You don’t look sorry.”

“You forgot your promise. I merely reminded you,” she said unapologetically.

Women. I tell you, they have the memories of elephants. 

It didn’t take prophetic powers to know what was happening below right this second. Someone (I’d lay odds on Sanji) would tell the whole crew about how Robin and I were making secret promises to each other, which would get completely blown out of proportion, and then everyone would be teasing us about it. For days. Weeks, maybe. Hell, I might never live it down. 

I looked at the woman sitting so serenely in front of me, a slight smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Aw, hell.

She’s worth it.


	7. Chapter Seven

The Sunny pitched and rolled under me with such force that I slid a good foot sideways. My eyes snapped open as I abruptly awakened, and on instinct I rolled with the movement, coming up and onto my feet. What the—?!

Somehow, in the course of an hour, we’d gone from a picture perfect day of calm winds and sunshine to this horrible mess. The sky had that weird color that was a mix between grey, green and brown, and it heralded a major storm. I’ve only ever seen this color of sky three times in my life: Once for a tornado, once for a hurricane, and the other for a typhoon. 

“RAISE ALL SAILS!” Nami called out from the main deck. 

Everyone leapt into action, knowing what to do without needing to confer with each other. I knew what Nami intended with that order—she would use the Coupe de Burst to get us out of this dangerous sea and into calmer oceans. We’d done it many times before and it was always a sound method to use. 

Sanji beat me to the topmost mast, so Chopper and I took the mizzen and hauled the sail upwards. As we worked, Chopper kept glancing up at me and snickering. I couldn’t hear it over the howling of the wind, but I could see it clear enough. 

Here we are, standing on top of a piece of wood that’s barely two feet wide, with winds blowing strong enough to jerk a man off his feet and a typhoon threatening and he’s laughing? What the hell can be so funny? 

Forget it, if I try to figure it out now, we’ll lose valuable time. Besides, a light rain had just started, making everything slick. If I didn’t watch my footing, I’d be falling head-first into the deck. 

Sanji somehow got done a few seconds before we did and as he scampered down the ropeway, he glanced in my direction. Then he snickered, laughed outright even, before heading down. 

I watched him go, scratching at the back of my head. What? Did someone scribble on my face while I was sleeping or something? Naw, surely I would have felt that and woke up. 

“HURRY!” Nami urged from below. 

Putting Chopper and Sanji’s odd behavior aside for a moment, I focused on getting back to the main deck before Franky engaged the Coupe de Burst. 

I scurried downwards, Luffy doing his usual trick of stretching one arm and swinging back down instead of climbing, passing me in the process. I managed to be only a second behind him despite that. As soon as I had my feet more or less on the grass, Franky called out, “Here we go!”

The ship gave a single, hard lurch as Franky engaged the system and the Sunny flew forward, actually gaining a good bit of height from the choppy sea in the process. 

The storm was so large that it actually took three bursts to get us completely clear, which used up quite a bit of cola in the process. The bursts weren’t exactly easy for us to deal with, as it shook the ship pretty hard, so we focused on bracing ourselves through each burst until we were well and truly clear. 

Nami turned to look behind us—we all did—but she plainly felt we had passed the storm as she turned back around with a wide smile on her face. “All clear!”

Phew. The Grand Line sure could be unpredictable. Well, clear of the storm or not, the grass had gotten pretty soaked back there. Resuming my nap didn’t sound appealing. I suppose I could go soak in a hot bath and then—

“My, Zoro, how honest of you,” Brook observed. “Yohohoho!”

Huh? Seeing my blank look he pointed a finger at my chest. I glanced down at myself. What the hell is he…oi. Oi! 

Someone—I had a good idea who—had pinned a square white cloth to my shirt that read, “When lost, return to Robin.”

So that’s what those snickers had been about earlier! I snapped my head up and around, glaring at Sanji (I knew he was behind this somehow) and Nami (who was the only one sneaky enough to pin something to me while sleeping). 

“I see. So living has become too hard for you all of a sudden and you want a quick death, huh? That’s fine. I can arrange it for you,” I growled.

Unfazed by my threats, Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were hanging off each other and laughing hysterically. Even Robin seemed to find this amusing as she had a hand covering her mouth, eyes crinkling up in silent laughter. 

Ignoring them, I put a hand on my swords and headed for the two who obviously had a death wish. Nami immediately ducked behind Sanji. “Sanji-kun, protect me!” she ordered with a mischievous smile on her smug face.

“Of course, anything for you, Nami-swan!” he agreed readily, falling into a fighting stance. 

I jerked a thumb at the sign before ripping it off. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“It wasn’t,” he denied pleasantly, “but I do admit I approve of it.”

“Oh, so it was just your idea.” My eyes cut to Nami, who was still unabashedly hiding behind the stupid love cook. 

“I’m trying to help you,” she explained mock-earnestly, batting her eyes innocently. “We’ll reach Sabaody tomorrow, right? It’s a big place, you’ll get lost there! Especially since Robin said she’d go shopping with me.”

Uh-huh. I didn’t buy that for a second. I clicked the Wado out of it’s sheathe an inch. 

“Ah-ah-ah,” Sanji tsked me and wagged a finger. “No fighting. Chopper hasn’t cleared you for that yet.”

Dammit. I’d momentarily forgotten that. I sent a glance at Robin. “It won’t take two seconds to kill him.”

“You promised,” she reminded me serenely.

Ugh…this is just soooo…I started turning the air blue with curses, which for some reason made everyone laugh all over again. Oh, so it’s funny seeing me frustrated, huh? 

I started plotting evil things. Nami’s a light sleeper, but Sanji isn’t….

“Now, now,” Luffy came over and lightly smacked me on the back. “Let’s have a pre-celebration for reaching Sabaody! Sanji, food! And Brook, play us something!”

We danced and Luffy did his usual trick with the chopsticks wedged in between his nose and bottom lip while we waited for Sanji to cook us something. I sat in a corner of the kitchen to enjoy the show but it didn’t stop my plotting. I’d do something wicked to Sanji later. He might not have come up with the idea, but it was safer to take my frustrations out on him. 

Who know what Nami would do in revenge? 

As Brook’s music filled the air, and people laughed and sang along, I sank more and more into the corner. Just to myself, I had to admit that I was feeling a little tired. The injuries I’d sustained were more or less closed up, but I could tell I wasn’t 100% yet. My strength hadn’t diminished much, but my stamina had certainly taken a hit. I couldn’t seem to do as much before tiring. This recuperation business takes a stupidly long time. 

Robin meandered around the table before sliding into the seat next to mine, a drink in one hand and a cream puff in the other that she delicately nibbled at. 

I gave her a long look from the corner of my eye. Come to think of it, people had been teasing me for days about our promise, but I hadn’t once seen anyone tease Robin. Oh, Nami had said something to her about it, but I think she was the only one that dared. I wonder why? 

Of all the people on this ship, Robin had been the hardest for me to pin down. Most of them you could take at face value—Chopper, Franky, Luffy and Usopp were all that way, at least. Brook only looked like a skeleton clown but I saw traces of true intelligence in him. Nami was as predictable as a typhoon in every aspect except navigating and money. I didn’t even try to understand her. 

I’d more or less treated Robin the same at first, but time had proven me wrong. Robin was strong, yes, but she was strong because she had to be. She didn’t have any other choice. She was cool, and collected, and not easily rattled because life had knocked her around and she’d seen too much. That tough outer shell in fact covered a tender heart. 

How many people on the ship realized it? I didn’t know. I think Franky and Brook did because they treated her so carefully. But then, Brook and Franky both were the type to play big brother. I’ve seen them help every person on this ship in one way or another. Nami might because frankly not much got past Nami. Was I the only other one that Robin trusted enough to share secrets, no matter how small? 

“Is there something on my face?”

Her cool voice jerked me out of my whirling thoughts and I blinked, bringing my mind back to the present. “I just realized that no one’s been teasing you like me.” 

Her eyes twinkled devilishly. “That’s because I’m excellent about getting revenge and they know it.”

…unfortunately true. 

“Besides, you’re safe to tease right now,” she pointed out with ruthless logic. “You can’t reciprocate at the moment. It’s like teasing someone with laryngitis. It’s even funnier because they can’t say anything back to you.”

Laryngitis, huh? I winced at how accurate the metaphor was. 

“You regret making that promise to me,” she stated softly, eyes staring blindly forward. 

“Huh?” Why would she think that? I didn’t really—

Sheer instinct had me ducking, one hand snapping up to protect my face. I caught the tankard that had been whizzed my direction with ease and lowered it slowly, staring at the idiot that had dared to throw it. Luffy grinned back at me. “You startin’ something?” I growled at him. 

He pointed a finger at me, cheeks ruddy from the alcohol, swaying from side to side a bit. “You’re not drinking enough!”

“Since when do you keep score?” I demanded, slamming the tankard onto the table, making it slosh over the rim. 

He shot his arm out, grabbed me by the collar, and jerked me over the table until I landed smack up against him with an ooph. “Luffy, what the hell?!”

Ignoring my protests (as usual) he said, “I hereby challenge you to a drinking contest! Winner gets to…uh…”

Hadn’t thought that far yet, huh? “How about the loser has to stand the other person’s watch.”

“Great!” Luffy approved. (I don’t think he cared about the terms as long as he had a competition.) 

Usopp helpfully played bartender and kept us well supplied with sake and we started drinking. I wasn’t about to lose to Luffy. Not that he’s a light weight, per se, but I can handle more liquor than him without a problem. We kept drinking, and drinking, until Luffy finally slid under the table with a bump and a loud hiccup. 

Then, of course, I had to get Brook’s help dragging him back out again. Ever tried to move a rubber man when he’s not in the mood to be moved? It’s like herding cats, I tell you. Every time we grabbed one part of him, it would just stretch and the rest of him would stay put. I finally gave up and left him there. It’s not like he’d get a crick in his neck from sleeping in a weird position. 

Since he was in no shape to stand watch that night, I covered for him. I had the first two watches because of that, and I sat in the crow’s nest and let the calmness of the ocean and the cool night air sober me up slowly. I half-expected Robin at some point that night, as she was in the habit of coming up and talking to me before going to bed. 

Strangely, she didn’t show. 

In fact, I didn’t see her the next morning either. I’d gotten up a little later than the others, and by the time I was really ready to face the day, The Sunny was already at port in Sabaody. We all dismounted. I finally saw Robin and Chopper coming in from behind us. Hmmmm. She didn’t look any different than usual but something about her said that she was in a bad mood. The way that she was carefully not looking at me said that I was at fault somehow, too. 

I gave a groan. I really didn’t understand what she was thinking, but I honestly didn’t remember most of last night. For all I know, I could have said something I wasn’t supposed to have. Well, better to give her some space for now, let her cool down a bit. She’ll either let go of whatever-it-is or I’ll come and make peace with her later. 

I separated myself from the rest and headed into town on my own. It’s not like I needed Robin’s company on this island, anyway. I mean even a child couldn’t get lost here, not with these huge freakin’ numbers everywhere telling you where you were. 

And if I happened to see a bookstore, well…it might be a good idea to stop in.


	8. Chapter Eight

On Kuraigana Island (Hawk-eye’s Castle)

Seven days. I’d been here seven days, bandaged from head to toe, and not very well at that. Chopper has spoiled me, I guess. I lay in my bed that night, pain throbbing in my body like a live pulse. I had probably overdone it today. Ever since Mihawk had set me to training with those monkey-baboons-bastards, I’d been fighting from sunup to sundown, only pausing to eat. Considering I was still recuperating from Sabaody, and (if I were to be honest with myself) from what Kuma did to me on Thriller Bark, I should probably be taking it easier than this. 

But I couldn’t do it. 

If I slowed down for any length of time, emotions started to weigh on me. Worry, primarily. Had the others landed okay? Were they alright? We were all a pretty hardy bunch, you had to be to survive Luffy’s craziness, but the reason we were all still alive was because we supported each other and made up for each other’s weaknesses. Separated like this, everyone was on their own and I didn’t like it one bit. 

I was especially worried for our Devil Fruits users because they were the ones most in trouble if they landed in the wrong spot. If they landed on the sea, there would be no way to survive. Brooke, Chopper, Robin…I am by no means a religious man, but for the first time in my life, I found myself praying. Praying that they had land under them.

Robin. 

I closed my eyes and rolled onto my side, struggling against a wave of regret and self-loathing. Things had not gone well on Sabaody. What should have been an easy stop, a brief stop to get the ship coated before going on to the next destination, had become a disaster. That thrice-cursed Kuma had shown back up and this time he followed through on the threat he’d given me on Thriller Bark. This time, he didn’t barter with me but instead went after every member of my crew. 

With that strange ability of his, Kuma had sent each person off in a random direction, throwing them high into the sky and skimming along the clouds, to land who knew where. In that split second as Kuma reached out a hand toward me, I knew I would get sent flying. I knew that we all would be, just like how people were scattered on Thriller Bark. In that moment, my greatest fear was being separated from Robin. Fear for her sake because I couldn’t protect her, and away from us, she had no allies. She was more renown than all of us with the exception of Luffy, but Luffy always seemed to find friends and bounce back. It sent chills down my spine imagining what might happen to her if she landed in the wrong place, surrounded by the wrong people. 

I’d wanted to grab onto her. If we couldn’t defeat Kuma in that moment, I wanted to at least have him send me and Robin together so that she wouldn’t be alone. I worried for her more than anyone. But of course, I couldn’t get my traitorous body to move fast enough and then I’d been sent off within the blink of an eye. 

We hadn’t parted on the best of terms, and I regretted that too, but…but it was just a stupid misunderstanding. Given some time, a little patience on my part, and we would have worked through it. I think. 

The overly soft mattress under me creaked as I flipped onto my back, the springs protesting. I stared blankly up at the grey stone ceiling and let out a long sigh. Why, why was it only now that I realized what I felt? The signs had all been there. Everyone on the crew had commented on it, in one way or another. I was more protective of Robin, I showed more concern for her, I spent more time with her alone than anyone else, hadn’t I been told all of this? But it was only now, when I couldn’t reach out my hand and touch her, that I realized what it all meant. 

A certain childhood friend of mine was probably watching all of this play out and laughing herself silly. Kuina always did have a twisted sense of humor that way. 

“Be okay,” I whispered in the still night air, even though I knew that there was no way Robin could hear me. “Just be okay.”

I wanted to get up right that second and go searching for her, as useless as that would be. Robin was either okay where she landed or she wasn’t, it was simple as that. It would take me months, if not years, to find her. Even if I did find her, I wasn’t strong enough to protect her now. Sabaody had taught me that. 

Fortunately, I had one thing to cling to. Luffy had found a way to get a message to all of us through the newspaper. There had been a front page spread about him doing something ridiculous by going around Marineford, ringing a bell sixteen times, and whatnot. It’d taken me a while, but I realized that the whole article and what he had done was camouflage. The true message was written on his upper arm. Our original plan on Sabaody was to meet up in two days, but a D had been crossed out, and a Y written beneath it. 

He didn’t want us to meet back up in two days, but in two years. I had an idea of what he intended to do in those two years—I had the same plan now. I would train like a madman and get strong enough that we wouldn’t be at the mercy of Kuma again. Or anyone that was as strong as him. 

So as much as I wanted to go after Robin right this second, I couldn’t. We had a designated meeting spot and time. I needed to stick to the plan. I wouldn’t do anyone any good by running around like a headless chicken. 

No, I’d stay here and train with Mihawk’s baboons for the next two years. I’d get strong enough to properly protect everyone so that this never, ever happened again. 

And the next time I saw Robin, I wouldn’t be such a clueless idiot with her.   
Determined, I rolled over to my right side and closed my eyes. I had to get some decent sleep. 

I had a lot of training to do. 

ӜӜӜ

Two years later, the ocean under Sabaody Archipelago

For once in my life, I was actually early for something. And had it done any good whatsoever? None. I’d made it to Sabaody Archipelago days before anyone else had. Granted, we didn’t have a specific day set to meet here, but still! 

The ghost girl with the annoying laugh had come with me for some odd reason. She kept insisting that she needed to guide me, which was ridiculous, I didn’t need the help. I’ve been here before, hadn’t I? I knew how to get here. 

I wandered around the island, got into a few fights, collected on a few bounties, and just killed time. Sabaody had become a lot more lawless since the last time I was here. Almost scarily so. But it also attracted quite a lot of pirates with mid-range bounties so I managed to make quite a chunk of change in a few short days. 

I checked in with Ray-san at the Rip-off Bar once a day, sometimes twice, but it still took several days before people started showing up. My luck being what it was, I missed Robin’s arrival completely. It wasn’t until we were all scampering on board the ship with trouble following Luffy (as usual), that I saw her at all.

She’d changed since I last saw her. Her hair was a lot longer, skin paler, and she seemed more…composed? Confident? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I didn’t have a chance to really talk with her and reconnect, either, not with the crew’s urgency to get underway and get the Sunny headed down toward Fishman Island. 

But after we did get moving, with everyone shifting from one side to the other, staring at the ocean all around us, I felt like I could finally have her one-on-one, if only for a few minutes.

Assuming I could figure out where she went. 

Ha, finally! There she was. Robin’s always damn hard to pin down. In fact, I think I’d been around the Sunny about four times before I found in her in this little corner of the back deck. Sometimes I wondered if she purposefully didn’t have a routine place to sit and read because I never knew where to find her. 

“Robin.” 

She looked up from the book in her hands and gave me a small smile of greeting. “Zoro.”

I took the smile as an invitation and sat down next to her, close enough that our arms brushed. What I really wanted to do was hold on to her for a good long minute, but that would only make her uncomfortable. Robin had very little experience with physical affection and she tended to freeze when people touched her without warning. She’d spent so much of her life keeping a physical distance from people, with an escape route always ready, that her flight instincts were engrained in her. Only Luffy, Nami and Chopper seemed to get away with it. From my haramaki, I pulled out three slim books and handed them to her. “Here.”

Setting her own book on her lap, she took them from me with a curious look. “What are these?”

“Diaries.” I shrugged. “The place I was at was ruins of a fallen nation. I found some of these lying about, and glanced through them. They seem to be personal records of what was happening before and during the nation’s destruction. They aren’t history books, but I figured they’re a more accurate record in some ways.”

Robin looked stunned, as if I had just handed her a wonderful present out of the blue. “Thank you so much!” she responded enthusiastically. “How old are these? Where were you staying?”

“Kuraigana Island. And they’re about ten years old.”

“Kuraigana Island?” she repeated thoughtfully. “I believe I know of it. Isn’t that the fallen country of the Shikkearu Kingdom?”

Is there anything that she doesn’t know? “That’s the place.” 

Her eyebrows arched. “How in the world did you end up there?”

“I literally landed in the middle of the island. Lucky for me, I guess, although I didn’t think so the first two days. Do you remember that ghost-girl we met on Thriller Bark? Yeah, she was there for some reason. Annoyed me no end, although we became friends of sorts after a while. But the best part was, it was also Mihawk’s home.”

Robin went tense. “I would think that would be the worst part.”

“No, he was actually welcoming, in a strange way.” Even after being there two years, I wasn’t quite sure what to think of that. “He even agreed to train me.”

“A Shichibukai agreed to train you,” she repeated as if I had just said something in a foreign language that she didn’t understand.

“He found the idea amusing.” I shrugged. I’d told Mihawk point blank that I intended to take his head when I was strong enough. Why he found the idea of training his own executioner amusing, I have no idea. “Although I didn’t spend a lot of time training with him one on one. Most of the time, I fought the island’s humandrills.” 

She was interested before, but now I had her undivided attention. “I’ve only read of them. What are they like?”

No surprise that she knew what they were. But then again, I want to meet someone that knows something Robin doesn’t. “They look like huge baboons, really. Mihawk said that if they grow up with peaceful humans, they’re peaceful. But the island had been destroyed in a war nine years ago and this bunch were bloodthirsty. They’d seen nothing but fighting and they were scary good imitators. I spent all two years fighting them.”

“Is that where…” her hand lifted to my ruined eye, not quite touching my face. I’d learned to compensate for my blind side and it didn’t bother me that I couldn’t fully see her hand. Instead, I gently caught her wrist and encouraged her to touch the scar.

“You can touch, Robin,” I said quietly. “It doesn’t hurt.” 

A faint flush stained her cheeks and her hand twitched, obviously not comfortable with doing that. I let her wrist go, giving her space back, and continued easily, “Yeah, I lost the eye in a fight with their boss. He’d fought with Mihawk personally at one point, so fighting him was almost as good as fighting the swordsman himself. I barely won that fight. I like to think I’ve gotten strong enough from training with them that we’ll never be forcefully separated again.”

She nodded. “I hope you’re right.” 

While we were on the subject…“I wanted to ask, were you okay after Kuma sent you flying?”

Robin cocked her head at me, as if wondering why I wanted to know.

“I know you’re fine now,” I said hurriedly. “In fact…well, you look better now.” Gorgeous, actually. “I was just worried that, you know, you would land in the ocean or end up in a bad place and not be able to get out of it.” 

“Well, I ended up in an interesting place,” she responded easily. “Did you know that there was a bridge being built across an ocean by order of the Celestial Dragons?”

My eyes crossed at the mental image that brought up. “No, but somehow that sounds like the sort of stupid thing they’d order built. You landed there?”

“I certainly did. So, you could say I had a narrow miss with the ocean,” she said in dark humor.

I couldn’t laugh. I imagined what might have happened if she’d missed that bridge. It made chills run down my spine. “And then?”

“Oh, the Revolutionary Army came and took away all the workers there.” Her head slanted, eyes turning inward on some memory. “It was quite thrilling, in a daring-do sort of way.”

Why did I get this feeling that there was a lot she wasn’t telling me? “You’re not saying that you’ve been with the Revolutionary Army for the past two years, are you?”

“Yes, that’s right. I even met Luffy’s father.”

I blinked. Then blinked again. “You’re joking.”

“No,” she assured me although her smile grew. “They don’t look a thing alike, by the way. Well, except perhaps that spiky black hair.” 

It’s hard to tell with Robin sometimes, but I had a feeling that this time she wasn’t pulling my leg. “What’s he like? The famous Dragon.”

“Stern. Capable. Ruthlessly intelligent. Although he’s got an interesting sense of humor as well. He was very welcoming to me, and not only because I am his son’s crewmate. While staying at his headquarters, I spent most of my time giving him any information that might help him.” She paused before adding thoughtfully, “I learned quite a bit in return.”

So, she’d ended up with dangerous people, but they happened to be good dangerous people. I blew out a relieved breath. “I’m glad you were in a safe place.”

Those dark blue eyes of hers studied my face for a moment. “You were…worried?”

“Yeah.” My mouth twisted up in a wry smile. I couldn’t begin to explain just how worried. 

Robin didn’t quite know how to respond to this. Finally, she managed, “I’m sorry you were worried. If you don’t mind my asking—”

“Zoro!” Usopp called from the helm. “You’d better get up here!”

I let out a groan. Really? I couldn’t get more than five minutes uninterrupted with her? “Coming!” With a grimace, I gave her a shrug and headed upstairs. I glanced back at her once, and for a split second she looked a little disappointed that I’d left. Or was that wishful thinking on my part? 

Shaking this off, I called to Usopp as I moved, “Just tell me we’re not heading for some giant sea monster.”

“That’s exactly what we’re heading for!”

Growling, I sped up. Seriously?

Just one quiet voyage to a destination, is that so much to ask for?


	9. Chapter Nine

The journey to Fishman Island didn’t go quite as planned. As in, our easy trip and intent to play tourist pretty much blew up in our faces. 

This time it was a Mermaid Princess’s fault. 

I admit, I didn’t see that one coming. Luffy makes strange friends, granted, but I’m not even sure how he met her to begin with. Or why he was playing bodyguard for her. 

What I do know is that I ended up somehow in the palace, fighting mermen underwater (that had been fun) and then eventually in a bird-like cage in a room that with Usopp and Brook. That part hadn’t been as fun because I didn’t have my swords, the room was filling up with water, and we had minutes left to breathe. If not for Brook’s ability to throw his spirit out of his body and travel around, getting help for us, we would have been drowned pirates. 

Thankfully for all, we got out, won the battle, and got back on dry land. That’s when life had gotten really fun as there was a major battle between Draken’s group and the king’s guards. Of course, the crew was right in the thick of things and everyone was causing significant damage. I really am proud of those guys sometimes. 

I was beyond thankful I was there, too, as Robin had been sneak attacked by an opponent a little out of her league. Usually she has the advantage when fighting because she can sprout multiple limbs with her Devil Fruit ability. But this time, her opponent was a squid merman, swords in every hand, and was drunk and drugged up to boot. I’ve fought Drunken Style often enough to have respect for it. A drunk fighter is stupid hard to read and anticipate. 

I’d stepped in as a matter of course, meeting his blades with all three of my own, blocking his attack before he could hit her. Robin had been surprised, almost startled by my sudden appearance between her and the octopus-freak. 

Why was she surprised?

In the heat of battle, I hadn’t thought much of it. In fact, I’d barely noted her reaction at all. When I saw that drunk squid swordsman heading for Robin, I had raced to put myself between her and him. To guard her unprotected back, of course, but also because of the challenge he’d represented. That drunken, weaving posture of his and the multiple swords in his hands had made for an interesting opponent. My blood started pumping at just the thought of fighting him. 

But after the battle was won, the banquet eaten, and we’d left Fishman Island that expression of Robin’s came back to me and played over and over again in my head. I hadn’t been able to find her at the banquet to speak with her one on one. It seemed as if she was always near people. But I couldn’t forget that look on her face. She’d been surprised. 

Robin’s never surprised. 

I leaned against the railing, looking out over the ocean and letting the salty wind brush past my face. In the stillness of the night, the only sounds I heard were the waves lapping against the side of the boat and Luffy’s snores. I’d come out here to think, since tossing and turning in my bunk hadn’t done me much good. No matter how much I thought about Robin, her reaction still seemed odd. 

Even odder still was the fact that although we’ve been reunited, I’d only managed to talk to her once alone. We used to have long conversations all the time, usually when I had watch. Robin’s a bit of a night owl—all of those years of having to sleep lightly, I guess—so she’d often come up when I had watch and keep me company. She hasn’t done that once since we were reunited at Sabaody. 

I don’t get it. I know she’s changed some over the past two years. She’s become…I can’t quite put my finger on it. Calmer? No. More confident? Maybe that was it. But she’s acting like she did before, when she first came on board, as if we barely tolerate each other. And that’s not true! Or at least, it wasn’t true… I scratched the back of my head, growing more confused. 

Letting out a long breath, I pushed away from the railing and turned around. I caught sight of the crow’s nest above my head. Come to think of it, it was Robin’s watch right now. 

Unconsciously, I went straight up the ladder. I had the hatch open and my head through the hole before I realized that coming up to talk to her without a plan of what to say was an extremely bad idea. But by that point, Robin had turned to look at me, a brow quirked, halfway off the bench. “Zoro-san? Is something wrong?”

She’d used ‘san’ again. Dammit, I thought we were past that. She hadn’t used any honorific in the middle of the battle. “Yes, there is,” I answered as I pushed my way all the way through, shutting the hatch behind me. “Why are you using that damn honorific again? You are acting like you don’t know me anymore.”

Robin held up a hand, staying me. “My apologies. It’s just an old habit.”

Old habit? Seriously, that was the excuse she was using? I didn’t buy it for a second. 

“Is there something wrong?” she repeated patiently. 

“No,” I muttered in irritation. I swear, sometimes pulling honest answers out of Robin is like pulling teeth from a sick, wounded alligator. 

She didn’t say anything else but her eyes asked Then why are you here?

Buying myself a second to think, I joined her on the bench, settling close by and getting comfortable before directly looking at her. “Robin. I came to ask you something.”

Waving a hand at me, she said, “Go ahead.”

“Why were you surprised?” When she cocked her head at me, not understanding, I clarified. “When that squid swordsman came at you, and I came to take him on instead, you looked at me in surprise. Why?”

Robin smiled calmly, eyes crinkled at the corners as if I had just asked a silly question. “Well, of course I was. You came out of thin air.”

I smelled evasion. “You’re never surprised. Don’t give me that. I’ve come to your side and fought with you over a hundred times and no matter where I came from, or how suddenly I appeared, you’ve never been surprised like you were in that moment. I’ve seen you look relieved, and happy, but you’ve always looked like you half-expected me to show up. And for good reason. Unless something stopped me, I usually did show up. So why are you surprised this time?”

“We haven’t been near each other for two years,” she pointed out reasonably. “I’m not used to your habits anymore.” 

“That’s a crock of shit, Robin.” She flinched ever so slightly at my harsh response. “Oh, you sound ever so logical with all your reasons, but we both know that’s not it. We both know each other better than that. I lost an eye in the process of training so that I could protect you, you and every other person in this crew, and you didn’t expect me to come to your side and fight? You, who counts and foresees everything?”

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. 

Aw, hell. It was that, wasn’t it? That stupid misunderstanding that we’d had before being split up on Sabaody. I’d been afraid that was it. 

Unfortunately, misunderstandings have this habit of not going away if you leave them alone. In fact, the longer you leave them be, the larger and more tangled they grow. If I wasn’t separated from her by Kuma, I’d never have left things alone, and I would have straightened things out with her at the first opportunity I had. But of course, nothing had gone according to plan. 

I blew out an irritated breath and tried to figure out how to say this right. “Robin, the only real regrets that I have in my life are the moments where I failed to protect something…or someone. I don’t even regret losing this eye of mine because in return for it, I gained the skills I needed so that I can properly protect people in the future.”

Her eyes slowly came up and studied my face with such intensity that I swear she could see straight through to the back of my head. “You regretted the promise that you made with me,” she whispered in a low voice.

I shook my head firmly. “Not once.”

“But…” she trailed off uncertainly. 

“Not once,” I repeated firmly. “I was irritated with the teasing, and I wanted to pound on that stupid cook’s face several times, but breaking the promise I made with you wasn’t worth it. I didn’t regret it, Robin. To me, you were worth the trouble.”

Her lips parted in a mix of wonder and bemusement. “Really.”

I ran a hand over my head and let out a groan. “Is that really what you thought for the past two years?”

“I didn’t have any other reason to think otherwise.”

The next time I see Kuma, I’m going to pound him. 

“Then, the journals you brought me, were they an apology? Or a souvenir?”

“What, they can’t be both?”

She grinned at me. “I don’t see why not.” 

So, were we alright again? Judging by the look on her face, I thought so. She was responding to me like she had before, without this air of caution coloring her words. “So tell me the rest of the story. You were rescued by the Revolutionary Army and met Luffy’s dad. What else happened?”

Robin leaned more comfortably into the bench and started weaving her story of the past two years in smooth tones. I listened and watched the variety of emotions play over her face, feeling my heart soothed a little more with each word. Damn, I’d missed this. Missed her. I hadn’t realized just how badly until this moment when I truly had her all alone. 

We talked and shared stories until the watch was up and Franky came up to replace Robin. He gave us quite the knowing look for being alone together and this time I didn’t try to play it off. Funny, I only realized now that he’d been right on the money years ago. Franky is ridiculously good at reading people, and he has one of the sharpest minds on this ship. I wonder how much longer I can keep all of this from him? I didn’t really want to advertise my feelings until I had things sorted out with Robin. I’d already learned about how things get screwed up when this wacky crew intervenes in relationships. I didn’t want a repeat. 

Trying to play it cool, I wished them both a good night and headed straight to my bunk. As much as I’d like to be with Robin a little longer, I had straightened things out with her, and that was progress enough for tonight. 

ӜӜӜ

It was the next afternoon before we were alone again. Robin stopped in the doorway of the library and just stared at me, blinking, as if she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. 

Granted, I didn’t read that often. I prefer to be up and moving, or dead asleep, but I do have a few books in here, mostly on swordsmanship and meditation. (I think everyone’s forgotten that though.) I do read from time to time. 

After a long second, she came through, acting as if me being in here was normal. “Zoro. It was so quiet in here, I thought the room was empty.”

Heh. Nice save. I didn’t believe for one second that was the reason for her surprise. “It’s a fascinating book.”

“Oh? What are you reading?” she inquired casually, already heading for a particular section of the shelves. 

“The History and Destruction of Ohara by Nico Robin,” I answered quietly. 

Robin stopped dead in her tracks before whipping around, her eyes wide. 

I held up the book, my thumb marking my spot, and waved it a little. “I see you finished it. I was a little surprised to find it on the shelves.”

For a second she flushed, her hand rising to tuck her hair behind her ear in a rare self-conscious gesture. “I finished writing it while with the Revolutionary Army. They were very supportive of the project. They wanted the world to know what really happened. They helped me publish and distribute it.”

Hence why she now had a leather bound copy, eh? “It must have been hard to write,” I ventured, not sure if I should say anything else. 

“Because it’s so thick, you mean?” Robin gave up on where she was heading and came over to sit next to me instead. 

“No. Because what happened was so horrific.” I was only about a third of the way through and already my stomach was churning at the vivid descriptions. I can’t imagine having lived through all of this. I finally understood why Robin had reacted the way she did when CP-9 came and got her, though. Not to mention how she reacted on Eneis Lobby with a buster call hanging over her head. If I had lived through what she had, I might have the same knee-jerk reaction, and been willing to do anything to avoid a repeat. 

She looked away for a long second and I didn’t think she would answer. Then in a quiet voice, so quiet I could barely hear her, she whispered, “It was difficult.”

I stared at my hand that was already raised, reaching for her, and shot it back down with a frown. Oi, hand. What do you think you’re doing? I wanted to hold her, soothe some of that pain away, but she wasn’t my lover. I didn’t trust myself enough to try to comfort her as a friend either. 

As if wanting to dispel any sign of weakness, Robin looked up at me with a perfect smile. “But the book has done its job. The world now knows the truth, or at least part of it does—”

I couldn’t take that fake smile. Almost roughly, I put an arm around her shoulders and brought her head to rest in the crook of my neck. “Don’t force yourself,” I commanded, disturbed at seeing that false calm. “If it hurts, it hurts. No need to pretend otherwise.”

Robin froze against me, one hand against my chest as if not sure whether to push me away or not. Then she let out a long sigh and leaned her full body weight into me. 

Oh. Oh man. It was my turn to freeze, not sure of what to do. I’d reacted on instinct, bringing her to me like that, but now that we were in this position, I had no idea what to do. I never in a million years thought she’d react like this. I mean, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve touched her, and most of those times I was rescuing her from a dangerous situation. 

Um. What am I supposed to do…?

“I missed this,” she whispered against my skin.

“Hmm?”

“Trusting,” she said simply. 

“Ah.” I got it. The Revolutionary Army might have a worthy cause, but I’ve never met an army that had all good men in it. There were always a few bad apples in the cart, as the saying went. I’m sure Robin was uncomfortably reminded of all those bad organizations she’d belonged to in the past when she was with those guys. It had to be hard for her to relax and let her guard down. 

But of course, her trusting me like this meant that I really couldn’t afford to do anything and screw it up. It had taken years to get her to trust me so implicitly. I would be shooting myself in the foot if I tried to make a move right now. Okay me, get a grip on yourself. And if you can’t do that, get out of here before you mess things up completely. But I couldn’t help hoping….

Robin took the situation out of my hands and pulled back, separating us. This time, her smile was sincere and soft, eyes more peaceful. “I really did miss you.” 

“Me too,” I answered softly. “Next time we see Kuma, we’re not going to get within arm’s reach of him, okay?”

“Excellent plan,” she agreed somberly, eyes crinkling in a silent smile. “I’d rather not spend another two years with the Revolutionary Army, even though that was educational in its own right.”

I’d rather not spend another two years separated from you.


	10. Chapter Ten

Let’s be clear on this. Yes, I’m a decent swimmer. In a crew with four Devil Fruit users, I’m accustomed to diving in after people and pulling them out of the sea. Does that mean I want to be in it for any length of time? Not really. 

I kept my chin up, back to the sea’s bottom, legs idly kicking to keep myself afloat. In those adventure stories that Chopper likes to read, when a man is washed overboard, he always manages to latch onto something to float with, and he has a knife or sword or something, so that when he lands on a deserted island, he can survive. Of course, the real world isn’t as kind. I didn’t have anything floatable near me, I was in the middle of the sea without any land in sight, and I didn’t even have one sword on me. 

Stupid freak storm.

It was one of those sea twisters that like to appear out of thin air and hit us in the dead of night, when Nami was sound asleep. Normally she senses those things ahead of time, giving us enough of a head’s up so that we can somehow get out of that dangerous patch of ocean. But this time, she’d been rocked out of her bunk before the watch could sound the alarm, and we had to scramble to get the sails up so that Franky could do a Coupe de Burst. 

The sea had been more than rough, and it left the Sunny pitching back and forth like a drunk whale. Keeping my footing had been nearly impossible. I’d pulled Brooke, Robin and Nami back onto the ship numerous times as we got the sails up. Of course, just as we were about to burst free, a particularly bad wave hit the ship, washing Chopper toward the railing. He’d been in that Strong Point of his, so it was easier to grab him, but the sea had weakened him. It had taken considerable strength on my part to haul him back onto the ship.

My own balance was precarious. The next wave had swept me overboard just as the ship burst forward into the air. 

Curse that freak storm!

I blew out a breath in aggravation and kicked a little harder. The water lapped over my chest and neck, keeping me semi-warm. If I had to be stranded in the middle of the ocean without my ship or crew, at least I was in warm water. I’d been floating in the water now for about eight hours, and I had no idea what to do next. Since no one trusted me to navigate, I hadn’t been paying the slightest bit of attention to the map or Nami’s directions to the next island. Now that I was out here, alone, I realized how stupid that was. I don’t understand everything that Nami says, sure, but at least I would have an idea. 

What really troubled me was how much time had passed since I was thrown into the sea. As strong as I am, I couldn’t keep this up indefinitely. Doubts started to prey on me. Robin. Was Robin alright? Had she stayed on board after I was thrown off? Would I be able to keep myself afloat long enough to be rescued? Or would I never see her again? It made me angry to think that we’d both survived two years, separated from each other, only for me to lose her completely now because of a freak storm. I tried to console myself that I wasn’t dead yet, that I didn’t know what happened, so I shouldn’t be focusing on such depressing thoughts. I didn’t fool myself one bit. The problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure that the Sunny had escaped that dangerous sea cleanly or not. I might not have been the only one that they needed to rescue. 

No, they probably had, I consoled myself. We’ve been through storms that bad before and got out fine. It was just bad luck that I got thrown into the sea. Or maybe good luck? If someone had to spend several hours swimming about in the ocean, I preferred it to be me. 

Hmm, I take that back. I think I’d prefer the idiot love cook out here. 

Of course, he can do that sky walk thing of his, so he probably would have just run through the air back to the ship singing, “Nami-chawwwn, Robin-swaaan!” as he went. 

I growled at the image in my head. Thoughts like this weren’t helping me. The question was, what to do?

Swimming for land was out, as I didn’t see anything in sight. Knowing my luck, whatever direction I started swimming in would be the opposite way from where I needed to go. Besides, the rule is when you’re lost is that you should stay where you are so people can find you easier. Nami, with her insanely good sense of tides, might very well be able to figure out where I am drifting and be able to find me. 

I clung to that thought. All I had to do was keep myself floating like this and not sink into Davy Jones’ Locker, and eventually they’d find me. 

Maybe.

Strange, I never appreciated how large the sea is until I was stuck out in it without a single board to cling to. 

I floated and kicked my legs, idly moving my arms back and forth, keeping myself adrift as the tides and currents took me wherever they willed. The sun rose, becoming unbearably hot on my exposed face and chest, and then it slowly sank again into the west. My heart sank with it. A whole day adrift and nary a sign of another ship. 

This was not good. 

All of that training had made me much stronger, strong enough to float for a day and half the night, but I couldn’t keep this up indefinitely. I’d lose strength sooner or later. Screw it, swimming any direction is better than hanging about like this. My body couldn’t take much more anyway. Even though I was in the sea like this, dehydration was a serious issue. I couldn’t drink this water after all. 

That smell was especially driving me crazy, making my stomach rumble.

Wait. 

I smelled meat cooking! 

Lifting my head, I tread water for a second and frantically looked around me. Without realizing it, I had drifted near an island. Well, it was more like a pile of rocks. But I saw a fire burning bright near the shore, smelled the smoke drifting on the wind, and that meant there was enough land there to support at least one person. 

Having a clear destination, I started for it with strong strokes. First goal: food. Second: weapons.

Hopefully the natives were friendly. 

ӜӜӜ

It turned out to be just one native. Grundy P. Ballwacker, or so he introduced himself. He’d almost skewered me with a fishing spear when I first dragged myself onto the beach, and he wasn’t much friendlier now as I sat across from his fire. I shared his wariness. Something about this man felt…off to me. I couldn’t put my finger on it either. 

He looked rough, like most sailors did. His skin was like aged leather, hair so wispy as to be nonexistent, and his eyes were droopy. He didn’t strike me as much of a fighter, not with that scrawny, stooping build of his. But even the weakest person can be dangerous under the wrong circumstances. 

This situation definitely counts. I was so tired that my muscles were shaking, I felt light headed from hunger and dehydration, and even in this cold night air my face felt hot from the sunburn I got. I desperately wanted to sleep, but if I closed my eyes now, nothing short of a typhoon would wake me up again. I didn’t trust this old geezer enough to sleep in front of him. 

How long could I hold out, though?

With a gruff grunt, he used his chin to point toward the fish that were propped up near the fire. I took that to mean, ‘Those are done, have some’ and picked one up with each hand, devouring it in quick bites, and not caring that I burned my lips and tongue in the process. 

“Washed overboard in a twister storm, ya say?” Grundy said. It was the first full sentence he’d said to me. “Ya think your ship will come back fer ya?”

“I know they will,” I responded around a mouthful of fish. I must have been beyond starving because it still tasted good without a trace of seasoning. 

“Make a deal with ya,” he offered, one hand nervously rubbing against his grungy pants. “I’ll feed ya, help ya survive, but ya take me with ya when they come.”

I gave him a strange look. “How did you end up here, anyway?”

“Was a captain of my own ship,” Grundy sighed. “Mutiny.”

Oh really now. That explained why he was out here in the middle of nowhere alright. I sized him up again, but the truth of the matter was, it didn’t matter if we made a deal or not. “You don’t need to worry about being left behind here. My captain isn’t the sort to abandon anyone.” The way he rescued Robin had taught me that. “He’ll insist on bringing you with us.”

“Is that right?” Grundy brightened, revealing crooked teeth in a lopsided smile. “Sounds like a good man, yer captain.”

A good man or a good kid? I couldn’t decide which. I just shrugged and reached for more fish. “He is.” 

“But yer crew, they won’t mind?”

I snorted. “Half the crew is formed up of people that he’s rescued while sailing. The other half is from people he’s charmed into joining him. Trust me, they’re not going to be surprised when he offers to help you.”

“Mighty good man,” Grundy repeated, expression and tone odd. Well, maybe it was the flickering firelight that made me think he looked jealous. The moment passed as he offered me a flask. “Rain water,” he explained. 

Oh? Then that was drinkable. I accepted it and drained it in one long pull. Phew! Now I felt halfway alive. 

“I’ll take first watch, let ya sleep,” Grundy offered. 

I was so tired I was nearly swaying but still I hesitated in taking that offer. I still didn’t trust this man. My instincts said not to. Still, he wouldn’t gain anything by hurting me and if my crew found that he’d hurt me while I was sleeping, they wouldn’t take that well. In fact, they’d probably callously leave him here as punishment. 

But in truth, I couldn’t keep awake for much longer. Especially on a warm night like this, with my stomach full, the urge to sleep became stronger, nigh irresistible. Well, maybe if I slept in a position to where no one could sneak up on me…yeah, that’s what I’d do. So I nodded and said, “Sure. Wake me up in five hours?”

“Sure, sure,” Grundy agreed. 

I rolled away from the fire and went back toward the more sandy, gravelly area that I’d encountered before. If I slept on the sand, he’d have to cross loose gravel to reach me, and I’d hear it when he did. It would be a good enough alarm. I hope. 

Rolling onto my side, I settled in as well as I could into the sand. I didn’t have time to do more than close my eyes before I was fast asleep.


	11. Chapter Eleven

I must be beyond lost. 

I’ve been stranded on this pile of god-forsaken rocks for nearly six days now. Including the days that I drifted aimlessly about the sea, that meant I’d been off ship for almost eight days. I realize that nothing about the Grand Line makes any sense, and that includes the tides and currents, but it shouldn’t take this long to figure out where I drifted, right? Nami was not living up to her reputation as a genius navigator right now. 

When marooned out on a desolate island a whole eight hundred yards in length, most people would be glad for any company. Grundy was pleasant enough, and helpful in his own way, as he showed me the best way to survive out here. He’d figured out how to trap fish in a shallow pool, how to catch what little driftwood came by for firewood, and how to get by with very small cook fires. He’d made places that would collect rainwater, and even made something of a lean-to with a thin slab of rock so that we could escape the worst of the storms. He wasn’t an unpleasant person to share such a small space with. 

Trouble was, my instincts made it very clear that I couldn’t trust him. It was just a gut feeling.

He never did or said anything that I could put my finger on, but I don’t discount my instincts when they tell me something. Those instincts had kept my hide intact for years after all. No, I had a feeling that his crew had mutinied for a reason and left him to die. I just didn’t know what the reason was. Grundy wouldn’t talk about it, either. 

I started making contingency plans for when the Sunny did make its way back to me. I’m sure Luffy would insist on helping Grundy off this rock. Considering the man’s help, I wouldn’t argue against it. But I didn’t plan on just letting the man walk around the ship without someone keeping an eye on him either. I think between me, Robin, Franky, Nami, and Sanji, we could keep the man from doing anything to us. We’re all used to dealing with criminals, after all. 

Heaving out a sigh, I focused on fishing out dinner from Grundy’s makeshift fish tank. When I had about a dozen in hand, I hauled them over to a different pool and started gutting and cleaning them. 

Grundy came and knelt next to me, silently pitching in. Aside from eating and sleeping, there wasn’t much else to do, so we both worked on any task we could think of just to help pass the time. 

“Those friends of yours are sure late,” he noted idly. 

I grunted. Tell me about it. 

“You sure they’ll come back for you?”

“Positive.” I set a fish aside and reached for another. “But it’s our first time on the Grand Line and it may take them a while to unravel where the current took me.” 

“Ahhh. I see.” A strange glint came into his eye. “First time out here, eh? You don’t look like a Marine to me, so, Pirate?”

I paused and looked him straight in the eye. “Are those my only options?”

“Nope.” His mouth split into a gap-tooth grin. “Could be bounty hunter.” 

Shaking my head, I went back to cleaning fish. “I was once.”

“Huh. And now?”

“Pirate,” I admitted. I didn’t see why not. Anyone that’s been on the Sunny for more than five seconds could figure that out, and he’ll probably be aboard it sooner or later.

“Ha!” he crowed in victory. “Knew it. You said your captain either rescued people or charmed them into being on his crew. Which category you fall in?”

“Both, I guess.” My lips kicked up on one side as I thought about those times. “I was bound to a stake, sentenced to an execution. He talked me into joining him first, promising to set me free if I agreed. So I did, and he rescued me. Mind, at the time he didn’t even have a proper ship.”

Grundy’s brows rose. “And you still went with him?”

“Well, it was more like, ‘Hell, why not?’ I had no love for the place I was in and I needed to get out of there quick. After I joined up with him, though, well…kid’s got a way of inspiring loyalty.”

“Kid?” Grundy’s brows drew together in confusion. “He’s younger than you?”

“By about three years, I think. Although he acts like it’s about ten years younger sometimes.” 

“You don’t look old to me,” Grundy observed, studying me closely. 

“Twenty-one,” I admitted easily. 

He let out a low whistle. “So your captain is nineteen? How long you been with him?”

“Three years, I think,” I repeated, bemused that it had been that long. So far, Grundy was asking for information that didn’t matter, and if kept him from asking the more sensitive questions, I didn’t mind answering. Hopefully it would distract him and not make it seem like I didn’t trust him. 

“That means…wait, you followed a sixteen year old kid without a boat to his name?!” Grundy demanded incredulously. 

When put that way, it did seem an incredibly stupid decision, didn’t it? I just shrugged, amused. “He’s got the devil’s own tongue.”

“I’d say!” 

The time passed easily as Grundy asked more questions. I thought at first he was just curious, wanting to have some conversation after being out here for weeks without a soul to speak with, but as the evening wore on he started asking questions that I wasn’t comfortable answering. I started to evade him, or give him half-truths. Instead of taking the hint, he got more persistent. 

Tired of it, I turned the tables and started asking him questions, which effectively put an end to the interrogation. 

Night fell, we put the fire out to conserve what little wood we had, and we rolled into our own preferred sleeping spots. In this rocky place, the best you could do to stay warm was to find a niche that would keep you out of the wind. My clothes weren’t exactly the type to keep someone warm either. If I’d been stranded in one of those winter islands, I don’t think I would have made it this long. Fortunately, this place seemed to stay in a late spring season. The nights got a little chilly but nothing really cold and unbearable. 

I lay on cold rock, waiting for it to warm up enough from my body heat to make it possible to sleep. As I lay there, I had plenty of time to think. Grundy said that only Marines, Pirates, and Bounty Hunters sailed on the Grand Line. 

I wonder which one he is?

ӁӁӁ

Grundy and I took turns keeping an eye out over the sea. If we thought we saw a sail on the horizon, we planned on lighting a fire to catch attention with. 

When I woke up, I climbed onto the highest rock—which isn’t saying much—to get the best vantage and scanned the horizon from one side to the other in a slow manner. Every few minutes, I would slowly turn on my perch and search the area with my eyes, taking note of any difference of light or shadow against the morning sun. Usually it turned out to be nothing, but I kept hoping it would be different the next time. 

On the thousandth revolution, my eyes caught sight of a particularly familiar set of sails. A broad grin on my face, I called down to Grundy. “Light the fire! I see them!”

With a whoop, he caught up his piece of flint and quickly got a fire going. 

Hoping someone on board had a scope to their eye, I stood on top of my rocky perch and started waving my arms high overhead. 

From the ship, one of the cannons fired toward the ocean. I didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what it meant. They were letting me know – they’d seen me. 

I let out a breath of relief. 

The next port we reach, I’m taking Nami drinking. I didn’t doubt that it was due to her brains that they’d found me. The least I owed her was a few rounds. Although knowing her and her evil ways, she’d find a way to increase my debt because of all of this. 

It took a small eternity for the ship to get within shouting distance. When it did, I saw in amusement that everyone was hanging on the railing and waving at me, except Franky, who was steering us closer. I waved a hand back and shouted, “Took you long enough!”

“This place isn’t even charted!” Nami yelled back in frustration. “You owe me, Zoro!”

Yup, as expected, my debt’s going to grow because of this. I’m going to die owing this woman a fortune, I can see it now. At the moment, it didn’t worry me, and I just grinned. 

I half-expected a gangplank to come my direction. Instead, a set of arms extended out from the ship and grabbed me by the lapels. I had just enough time to recognize Robin’s Tres Fleur trick before I was literally yanked off my feet and went whizzing through the air. I swear she stole this idea from Luffy, because I’ve seen him do this to people more than once. 

It wasn’t as violent or as fast as Luffy’s version, so I had enough time to find my balance and plan for a landing. Robin pulled me unerringly straight to her and I landed, boots skidding on the slick grass. As my feet touched the deck, I instinctively grabbed her around the shoulders, steadying us both as I slid right into her. Her arms—her real arms—wrapped around my waist to catch me in return. 

For two selfish seconds, I just buried my face into her hair and breathed her in. There were a few dark moments over the past ten days when I feared I’d never be able to touch her like this again. So I needed this moment, even if it only lasted two short seconds. 

Damn, she smelled good. 

“Welcome back,” she said huskily against my ear. 

“Thanks.” I forced myself to pull away and turn to the rest of the crew. 

Chopper more or less climbed me like a tree and hugged me around the neck, sobbing and crying that he was afraid they’d never find me. I patted him on the back reassuringly as I accepted the clasps and friendly punches from the other guys. All except Love Cook, of course. 

Sanji gave me a disgruntled look. “Robin-swan insisted we had to go back for you, otherwise I’d have gladly left you here.”

I met him look for look. “Now why is it easy for me to believe that?”

“You had us worried, Zoro.” Luffy shook his head at me. “Don’t do that again. It was scary tracking you down.”

“Yeah, being deserted on a godforsaken island isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be,” I drawled back sarcastically. “I think I’ll stay on the ship next time we’re hit by a bunch of twisters.”

“Sound thinking,” Franky approved in open amusement. “So who’s the old man over there?”

“Ex-captain that was abandoned here after a mutiny,” I summed up precisely. “Grundy Ballwacker.”

“Mutiny?” Luffy responded with a frown. “Don’t like the sound of that. Well, we can’t leave him here. Let’s just—” he started reeling his arm back, as if ready to grab Grundy and haul him on board. 

I caught his shoulder. “Luffy. Before you bring him on board, I’ve got to warn you.”

Luffy paused and gave me a look askance. “What?”

“This man’s helped me, and he’s been friendly enough, but my instincts say not to trust him. He was asking me a lot of strange questions the past two days. So bring him on board, but everyone keep an eye on him.”

Luffy shrugged this off. “He can’t be that bad. We’ll just take him to the next port.”

“That’s over a week away, Luffy,” Nami warned. “Don’t shrug off Zoro’s warning too lightly. He knows the man better than we do.” 

“It’ll be fine,” Luffy responded cheerfully, not the least bit concerned. 

I just sighed and let it go. Luffy was under the impression that nothing could really go wrong in life, in spite of some of the dangerous situations he’s been in. Or maybe he thought one unarmed man without any allies or resources couldn’t offer us much in the way of danger. He might be right. But I’d rather be safe than sorry, especially since this man will be within arm’s reach of my crewmembers. And Robin.

Luffy reeled back his arm and shot it forward, caught Grundy by the arm, and then hauled him onto the ship with a snap. Grundy more or less impacted against the grass on his side and slid a good two feet before fetching to a stop. 

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy,” Luffy introduced himself, a wide smile on his face. “Who are you?”

“Grundy P. Ballwacker,” Grundy responded, climbing to his feet and taking us all in with narrowed eyes. “Whoo! Captain, you and your ship sure is a sight for sore eyes. I appreciate you picking me up like this.”

Luffy waved this away. “Naw, you helped Zoro after all. We’ll take you to the next port in thanks.”

“Much obliged, much obliged.” Grundy beamed at us. “Sure is a small crew you have here, unless this ain’t all of you?”

“Nope, this is all of us,” Franky responded. 

Chopper jumped off of me and started shooing us toward his workroom. “I want to examine both of you and give you something for those sunburns. Sanji, I can tell from looking that they’re both malnourished and dehydrated. Make them something to eat that has a lot of vegetables and fruits in it. Fruits especially.”

My mouth started watering. After days of eating nothing but fish and kelp, real food sounded heavenly. For that matter, a real bath and a change of clothes sounded heavenly. 

Robin put a hand on my shoulder, holding me back long enough for her to murmur in my ear, “You’re right. I don’t trust him either.”

“See?” I whispered back. I knew I could trust her to back me up on this. 

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” she promised. I had a feeling I knew what ‘eye’ she was talking about too. “You relax and get proper treatment for that burn.”

I eyed her sideways. “It isn’t that bad…is it?”

She arched an amused eyebrow. “I’ve yet to see a tomato that could rival you.”

No wonder it hurt and was itching so badly. Granted, being exposed to the sun for ten days straight without any relief would mean a whopper of a burn, so I wasn’t surprised…but if it was that bad, it would also mean peeling skin and days of healing ahead. Joy. Grumbling, I stalked after Chopper and hoped that he had some magic salve to make this thing go away overnight.


	12. Chapter Twelve

I stopped in the kitchen to grab two coffees, intending to take one up to Robin as she had first watch tonight. I didn’t get far before realizing that Grundy sat at the table, his own coffee mug in hand, which he was nursing with the pleasure of a deprived man. He’d been on that rock two weeks before I got there, so it’d been nearly a month since he’d had real food – or coffee. 

He greeted me with a nod and smile. “Zoro. That blond cook of yers is a good ‘un.”

“I know it.” It’s one of the few reasons why I haven’t killed him yet. I went to the coffee pot and pulled out my favorite mug and Robin’s. Let’s see, Robin prefers two sugars and a spoonful of cream in hers. 

“That brunette is Nico Robin, isn’t she?”

I froze. That hadn’t been an idle question. I turned slowly and gave him a steady look. “What of it?”

Grundy leaned back in his chair as he met my eyes levelly. “Roronoa Zoro. When you told me your name, it took a while for me to remember who you were. Once I did, though, I put the rest together fast. Roronoa Zoro, First Mate to Mugiwara, one of the more famous captains from the new generation. Of course, in that small crew of his, is some pretty dangerous people with some hefty bounties on their heads. I’ve been rescued by quite a group.”

My hand started twitching for the sword hanging at my side. Nothing he said sounded like a threat, but it made my hackles rise. “What’s your point, Grundy?”

He shrugged, and when he did the heavy atmosphere disappeared altogether. “Nothing. Just wondering how you and Nico Robin got to be so close. Didn’t expect a woman like her to take a lover; not with her track record of taking out criminal organizations.”

“We’re not lovers, Grundy.” Yet. I’m still working on that. I turned around and went back to fixing coffee. 

“No? Way you look at her speaks differently.” 

I didn’t respond at all to that. Taking up the mugs, I gave him a nod goodnight and left the kitchen. He could come to any conclusion that he wanted to. I didn’t care. 

I got a good hold on the mug handles before climbing one-armed up the ladder and into the crow’s nest. Robin turned her head as I came through the hatch, and her expression lifted to a subtle smile when she saw me. I felt my heart skip a beat. “Coffee?” I asked, a little more huskily than I intended to.

“Please.” She shifted on the bench enough to stretch out and take her mug. 

I kicked the hatch shut after me and joined her, daring to sit a little closer than I normally would. 

“Your burn looks better,” she offered, a hint of a smirk tilting up her mouth. 

I winced. “Anything would be an improvement.” My first look in a mirror had horrified even me. I didn’t know human skin could get that red. 

She chuckled and took a long sip of coffee. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too. It must been hard figuring out where I drifted to.”

Her eyes took on a pinched expression. “Hard is not the right word. Horrendously difficult comes closer. Nami didn’t have any charts of this area. We couldn’t predict where you would wash up. We didn’t doubt that you’d float, or find some way to keep your head above water, but we didn’t know how long you could keep that up either. Nami had only an idea of what the currents were doing, and she didn’t mark the exact place where you fell out, so it took us hours before we felt we were in the right patch of ocean. Then we had to do several experiments to figure out where the currents were heading. We used up almost all the oil doing it, too.”

I paused in taking a sip of coffee. “Oil?”

“Oil floats on water,” she explained simply. “It’s the most reliable method of tracking water currents.”

Huh. News to me. “So after you figured all of that out, you started sailing in the right direction?”

“No, actually, we sailed in the wrong direction first,” Robin groaned. “There were two currents in the immediate area, both of them heading opposite ways, and we had a fifty-fifty chance of guessing which one had taken off with you. So of course we guessed wrong.”

It shouldn’t be funny, but I laughed anyway. “It’s our usual luck in this crew. But you figured it out and came for me anyway.”

“By that time, almost six days had passed, and Sanji was insisting that even you couldn’t stay afloat that long.” A hard look came into her eyes. “We had words on that.”

I blinked. Oh, so his statement earlier about Robin insisting they come after me hadn’t been just a joke? To have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

“Of course, none of us expected to rescue anyone else.” She eyed me over the rim of her cup. “Grundy P. Ballwacker. The name…sounds somewhat familiar.”

Really? It didn’t ring any bells with me. “What do you think of him?”

“A shady man,” she responded promptly. “I agree with you. He is not to be trusted. He asks strange questions.”

“Yes, exactly. He always sounds friendly when he’s doing it, so you don’t think much of it at first…”

“…but then the questions start to accumulate, and they form a strange picture,” she finished, brows drawing together in a troubled frown. “I don’t like the vibe that man gives off.”

“Makes two of us.” 

Her eyes gave me a penetrating look. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

I blinked. Then blinked again, sure that my eyes were deceiving me. But no, Robin looked fiercely protective, a hard light in her eyes. I had no doubt that if I said ‘yes’ she would march straight down the ladder and Mr. Grundy P. Ballwacker would be promptly thrown back into the sea. Whether he had all of his limbs still attached when he hit the water would be questionable. It felt very strange to realize how defensive she was of me. Normally, I was the one being protective of her. “Robin. If he’d done anything to me, do you think I’d let him on this ship?”

She pursed her lips and thought about that for a moment. “That’s not quite how I meant it. I meant, did he do or say anything that was threatening? Or…pressured you in some way?”

I thought I saw what she was getting at. “No. Like I said, I can’t put my finger on why I don’t trust him. I just don’t. It’s not because of anything he’s said or done, exactly.” I tried not to smile as I added, “So don’t break any of his limbs or throw him back into the sea just yet.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Oh, that much was obvious from that evil glint in your eye.” I hid a smile behind my cup. 

Those blue eyes narrowed a little more. “It amuses you?”

Well, yes, but I knew better than to admit to that out loud. “I like it. That you’re protective of me.”

Robin’s head cocked slightly in bemusement. “I would have thought it would bruise your male ego.”

I waved this possibility away. “No, I’m not that egotistical. Not after the, what, dozen times that you’ve gotten me out of a tight spot? We depend on each other, trust our backs to each other, so I can’t very well get my feathers ruffled over the idea of you protecting me. I trust you to do that, if I ever need the help, just like you trust me to do so.” 

“Two years ago,” she observed thoughtfully, “you would not have said that.”

“Two years ago, I was cocky and full of it. I know better now.”

She chuckled, low and rich. “I can argue with that.”

“What, me being cocky or me now knowing better?”

“Yes.” She arched a brow at me in challenge, smirk spreading. 

Realizing she was teasing, I just chuckled while protesting mildly, “I’m not that bad!”

Robin reached over and patted me on the knee in a patronizing way. “If you say so.”

ӁӁӁ

Just once, just once, I want my instincts to be wrong. 

I woke up with a foul taste in my mouth, like some sea monster had crawled inside of it and died, messily. An ache throbbed right between my eyes and for some reason my vision was a little blurry, and I couldn’t quite focus. I forced my eyelids up anyway and struggled to sit upright. 

“Now, Zoro, don’t strain yourself,” Grundy said cheerfully from somewhere nearby. 

My efforts were abruptly stopped short by a chain wrapped around my torso and legs. In fact, now that I looked down, I noticed that I looked like some sort of metal sushi roll because I was wrapped in so much of it. I lifted my head, and took a frantic look around. Every member of the crew lay near me, some of them chained up like I was, but not all. Luffy, Chopper, Brook and Robin were only wearing cuffs –sea stone handcuffs. I knew where he’d gotten them without asking. We kept several sets on board, for those odd moments when a Devil’s Fruit user caused us trouble and we had to hold them somehow until we could figure out what to do with them. It didn’t happen often, but often enough for Franky to take precautions and store the cuffs on board. 

Grundy hadn’t moved us far. We were still in the kitchen, lying on the floor near the table. The last thing I remember was drinking coffee after breakfast and then the world had abruptly gone black. It didn’t take Robin’s wits to figure out what happened. I let my head thump back to the decking fatalistically. “Drugged us, eh.”

“I’m very surprised you’re the first to wake up,” he said offhand, coming over to crouch down next to me. “You’ve only been out a half hour or so.”

“I’m stubborn that way. So, Grundy. Marine, pirate or bounty hunter?”

He grinned at me. “Bounty hunter.” 

“It figures.”

Grundy shook his head, wondering. “You never did trust me, not from the minute you laid eyes on me. This whole crew watched me like a hawk, too. You won’t believe how hard it was to set all this up and lace the coffee pot. It was the only thing I could touch that no one questioned. What gave me away?”

“Instincts.”

“Instincts? That was it? Hooo, boy! You should have trusted your instincts more and left me on that miserable pile of rocks.”

I nodded in sour agreement. “Luffy would have never gone for it, otherwise I would have.”

“Is that right.” Grundy rocked back on his heels and looked at Luffy, who was sound asleep and snoring right next to me. “You know, it was because of your captain that my crew mutinied. Don’t look surprised like that. He’s too rich a prize to pass by. This whole crew is. If I caught you and turned you lot in, well, I’m set for life. I kept insisting we go after this crew, but they thought I was crazy to take you lot on. They wanted to settle for smaller game. In the end, they caught me in my sleep and dumped me out in the middle of nowhere.” He slapped his leg and threw his head back, laughing. “Joke’s on them! I caught all of you because of what they did.”

Running across a bounty hunter who was itching to take us in wasn’t that surprising. I mean, odds are every port has at least one or two with that aspiration in mind. Luffy’s too famous. But me being marooned with one? Well, that was just fate playing a little joke. A cruel one at that.

“Now.” Grundy leaned in closer, tone dropping to a more conspiratory tone. “Zoro, I’ve seen how strong you are. Past week we’ve been sailing, I watched you train, and those are some mighty big weights you throw around. I’m thinking, if you’re really determined, you’ll get out of these chains eventually. We’re still a few hours away from the nearest port, and I don’t like you awake while I’m sailing. So I’m going to take Nico Robin up with me as a little insurance.”

I jerked in panic despite myself. No! 

“I can see ya love her, boy. It’s plain as day. What you see in a monstrous woman like her, well, that I don’t see. But that don’t matter, I guess. You lay here still and quiet and I won’t hurt your woman. Clear?”

I gave him a glare that should have, by right, sliced him in two. 

He seemed to find that amusing, as he grinned at me before pushing himself back to his feet and turning to Robin. She’d been lying within arms’ reach of me, sound asleep due to the drug’s effects. With a grunt of strained effort, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulders before staggering out the door, heading no doubt for the helm. 

So help me, if he harmed her in any way, I’d…—

“Zoro-bro.”

My eyes snapped to the opposite end of the room. Franky was lying on his left side, and between the chair legs, we could see each other. His voice was little louder than a hiss, but his eyes were open and clear. 

“Franky!” I responded in quiet relief. “You okay?”

“My system reboots when drugs enter it, I’m fine,” he assured me. “Sorry it took this long to get back to wakey-land, though. Grundy did this?”

I growled in agreement.

“He’s got Robin?”

“Yeah. For insurance, so I don’t try anything.” And for that, I’ll cut his arms off. “Franky, can you break those chains?”

“Easy,” he assured me. “It’ll take a few minutes to do it quietly, though. We’ll need to come up with a way to sneak up on him if he’s got Robin.”

I nodded in grim agreement. “Work as quickly and quietly as you can.”

Franky extended his little hand out of the big one, turning it so that he could work the chains loose. I watched him work, waiting for my turn to be set free, and schemed. 

When I got free, Grundy P. Ballwacker wouldn’t know what hit him. 

And if I found even a scratch on Robin, he wouldn’t be making it off this ship alive.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Neither Franky nor I are much for strategy. We both tend to just charge into a situation and deal with the aftermath rather than think about some sneaky way in. But Robin being a hostage and in Grundy’s hands gave us pause. We had to think of some way to get her out of arm’s reach of him first. 

Franky got us out of the chains so quietly that even I could barely hear them rattling. Then we snuck on tiptoe out of the kitchen, keeping a weather eye at the helm as we did so. After all, the kitchen door was in full view of the helm. All Grundy had to do was turn around, and we were done for. Our first task would be to somehow get to the prow of the ship without him realizing we were both free. 

Grundy stood at the helm, Robin lying at his feet like a discarded sack of potatoes. Just seeing that made my hand twitch for the swords hanging at my side. 

But the pistol he had in his free hand turned my blood cold. 

Where, where had he gotten that?! No one on board used firearms. Oh sure, we had a few cannons, and Franky’s got enough weapons built into him to be considered a potential hazard, but none of us actually pick up firearms and use them. I swore viciously under my breath when I saw it. 

Franky caught sight of the gun and did a little creative swearing himself, but he didn’t pause, just quickly rounded the corner and to the infirmary in the back. I followed just as quickly, and quietly, making sure to not do anything to draw Grundy’s attention. He was so focused on navigating the ship, he never glanced back at us. Then again, he was trying to sail something that would take at least four people to properly manage, so that was rather expected. 

When we got to the infirmary, we both breathed easier and dared to speak in loud whispers. “Where did he get that pistol?” I growled, somewhat rhetorically.

“My locker,” Franky admitted, looking distinctly unhappy. “I collect those things off the Marines we beat and use them for parts.”

Now why doesn’t that surprise me. “And he drugged us, too. Has he been doing nothing but finding our weaknesses this past week?”

“Looks that way.” Franky ran a hand over his head, brows drawn together behind his sunglasses. “Zoro-bro, which do you prefer? Decoy or hammer?”

I paused and thought about it. He was right, the only way to do this would be for one of us to act as a decoy while the other quickly dove in and took Grundy out. “How bullet-proof are you?”

“Very, if they’re shooting at my front.” 

Which Grundy would be. Check. “I’ll be the hammer, then.” 

“Super okay.” 

“That just leaves the question of how to approach him without being seen.”

Franky rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “Only way I can think of is to climb along on the sides.”

He was unfortunately right. We had access holes to below the deck, but they were all in plain sight of Grundy, and it was a miracle we’d gotten back here without him seeing us. “I’ll take port side if you take starboard?”

“Deal.” He lifted his sunglasses up with one finger so that he could look at me dead in the eyes. “You focus on getting Robin out of harm’s way. I don’t think he’s such a strong fighter that it’ll take both of us to take him down.”

I grunted agreement. “You got something that’ll get his attention?”

“Several somethings,” Franky assured me with an evil smile. 

Good enough for me. Without a word, I went to the railing and slipped over the side. 

The Sunny has a lot of decorative railing, portholes, and trim on it that it gave a man plenty of handholds and footholds—if you had the reach for them. I did, fortunately. It still felt like was I was doing horizontal mountain climbing though. I grabbed one thing after another, the wood a little slick under my hands from the sea spray, making sure that I stayed silent as I maneuvered my way to the front. 

The sea had been a little choppy this morning, and it was worse now, so I had to make sure of my hold before I could reach for the next. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I slipped off here and fell into the water. At the speed we were going, I would not be fast enough to be able to catch up again. I only hoped that Franky was going at the same speed I was and he wouldn’t lose his grip either during the climb. 

Slowly, steadily, I made my way to the prow. Grabbing the railing there, I lifted myself up just enough to peek onto the deck. Directly in front of me lay Robin, on her side, face pressed into the decking. She was so still that I watched her with baited breath, afraid for a moment she wasn’t breathing. Then I saw the subtle rise and fall of her chest. Breathing. Good. 

I had no real foothold here, just the porthole beneath me to give my toes some purchase, and it was my grip on the railing that was keeping me up. I could have held on for hours, tirelessly, but found that my impatience grew with every moment. I did not like Robin anywhere near Grundy. I had to wait for Franky, though. I risked her safety more if I moved now. 

From the opposite side, I saw Franky’s hand raise up within view. He lifted one finger, then a second. I knew on the third, he’d move and I had to move at the same time. He barely had the third finger in the air before I put my feet against the Sunny’s sides and vaulted myself upward and over the railing. 

Franky beat me by a split second, hand raised in ready combat, bullets flying freely. 

Dammit, Franky! Don’t shoot anything near Robin! I can dodge the bullets but right now, she can’t! 

Grundy must have heard Franky or he somehow sensed our approach, as none of the bullets hit him. He rolled away from the helm, and Franky, pistol coming up as he fired. 

I paid scant attention to what they were doing, more focused on reaching Robin. It took an agonizing moment before I reached her, and I more or less skid to a stop on my knees, trying to scoop her up and move as quickly as possible. As I did this, I heard a bullet hit Franky and bounce right off. 

Seriously, what kind of metal did he use in his rebuild?

Grundy threw the empty pistol at Franky, which was an even more useless gesture. “What kind of robot are you?”

“I’m Franky, the Super-Cyborg,” Franky corrected with a wag of the finger. 

Grundy scowled. “I thought the rumors exaggerated your abilities. Guess I was wrong. Well, only one thing left to do.”

Do? The only thing left for him to do was surrender, before I turned him into fish food. 

The maniacal light in his eye, the jerky way he moved, screamed trouble at me. I had Robin in one arm, tucked into my side, and at the first hint of danger, I was going to shield her with my own body. If, that is, Franky didn’t move first. 

Franky watched Grundy with open confusion, obviously not understanding what the bounty hunter could possibly do in this situation. To our eyes, the man was unarmed and outgunned. (Literally. Franky had more guns than Grundy had stolen.) Of course, I didn’t think that Grundy would do all of this without a Plan B in store, just in case. He’s a paranoid bastard after all. But what…?

The sickening answer came a second later. Fast as lightning, Grundy shoved a hand into his open jacket, and I knew what he was reaching for—a second pistol. Stupid! We shouldn’t have assumed he only stole one!

Franky lifted his hand again, hand twisting, getting ready to fire. I reacted just as automatically, my free hand going to the Wado on my side. Without thinking, I grabbed the hilt and threw the sword as hard as I could. 

The Wado and Franky’s bullet hit more or less at the same time. The bullet hit Grundy’s left arm, my sword impaled his right shoulder, and the force of both knocked him off the deck and onto the one below, where he landed with a pained grunt and scream. 

I snarled in satisfaction. He dared, he dared try to kill Robin anyway?! That vindictive bastard! 

Franky quickly went down the stairs, saying as he did so, “I’ll chain him up. You get everyone else awake.”

“Get my sword out of him first.”

“Yeah,” he agreed grimly.

“And Franky?”

“Yo.”

“If that bastard tries to even twitch a muscle, throw him overboard.” With those injuries, he wouldn’t last long in the sea. And I didn’t care if he drowned.

There was an evil smile in Franky’s voice as he responded, “Super roger that.”

ӁӁӁ

This is one of those times when I wish I had more medical knowledge than I actually did. 

Not knowing what else to do, I’d carried Robin back to the kitchen and held her against me as I nudged people with my boot. Some of them were already groaning, coming awake. I knelt and dealt with chains and cuffs, awkwardly, as I couldn’t make myself let Robin go very far. By the time I had them all free, Nami was sitting up with a hand pressed to her forehead, and Brook was scrubbing at his mouth as if a lingering taste disgusted him. 

“Zoro,” Nami asked, “what happened?”

“Grundy,” I answered succinctly. 

Both of them abruptly snapped their heads around. “And where is he now, Zoro-san?” Brook demanded.

“Franky’s got him.” I inclined my head toward the door. “He’s too injured at this point to really fight back, and probably under about a ton of chain at the moment, so rest easy. Help me get everyone else up.”

Nami’s eyes landed on Robin, who was still curled up against me, showing no signs of waking up. “And the reason why you’re holding Robin like that is…?”

“He was using her as a hostage.” A tic developed in my jaw. 

Nami smiled, or at least, her mouth stretched in a way that could be described as such. But the expression made the fine hairs on my neck stand straight up. “Did he now. I’ll go check on Franky.”

“Feel free to kick Grundy a few times,” I called to her back. 

She waved a hand in acknowledgement. 

Brook didn’t look happy either, but he focused on everyone else instead, nudging them awake and in some cases, lifting people up to a sitting position. I glanced at the coffee pot. It’s a shame that pot is drugged right now because coffee would likely help get everyone up and moving again. 

Following my eyes, Brook stood up and headed for it. “Perhaps coffee would—”

“It’s drugged,” I informed him. 

He jerked his hand back as if he’d just touched a red hot iron. “That’s how he did it?”

“Yup.”

Determined, he grabbed the pot up and went to the sink. “I’ll wash this out.”

“Good.” It’ll save us from having any accidental repeats. And there would be repeats. Luffy wouldn’t remember it was drugged, I can guarantee it. 

With everyone more or less in motion, I shifted Robin in my arms, and checked for a pulse. Her heartbeat and breathing both sounded steady, as if she were only sleeping. I might have found that reassuring, if not for the fact that everyone else was waking up. I sat there and watched as people started groaning, hands to their heads, and picking themselves off the deck. Chopper was one of the last to do so, and I generously gave him five seconds to gather himself before asking, “Chopper, come look at Robin.”

Chopper blinked at me. “Why? Is something wrong?” A doctor’s instincts kicked in and he scrambled around to my side, where he knelt and reached out. With quick, efficient movements he checked her pulse, breathing, and even put an ear to her chest. Then he sat back with a smile of relief. “She’s fine. There’s no adverse reaction to the drug.”

My brows furrowed. Fine? “Then why is she still asleep?”

“Because Robin doesn’t normally sleep, is my guess.” He shrugged ruefully. “She’s a terrible insomniac some nights. I think her body is taking advantage of the situation and catching up on some much needed rest.”

Oh. Well, if that’s all there was to it, then…I guess I can let her sleep. I got a more secure hold on her and rocked back onto my heels before standing in a smooth motion. “I’ll put her in the infirmary.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “I’ll check everyone else.”

Chopper’s door was half open, so all I did was nudge it completely aside before entering. Nothing about the place looked ransacked or missing, so wherever Grundy got his drug from, it wasn’t from here. Had he had it on him the entire time? That seemed a bit of a stretch too. 

Well, we’ll figure it out sooner or later. Shrugging this off, I put a knee on the mattress, intending to lay Robin down. But I just couldn’t let go of her. My hands refused to release. After the scare I had earlier, I guess this was a normal enough reaction. I selfishly gave into my instincts and instead turned so that I sat on the mattress, back braced against the wall, and continued to hold her. I did snag a blanket at the foot of the bed and draped it over her, as she was starting to cool down a little. 

Through the open doorway, I could hear people talking, asking questions of what exactly happened, and Franky filling them in. Sanji, upon learning what Grundy had done to Robin, was loudly suggesting that someone kneecap him before throwing him overboard. 

For once, I whole-heartedly agreed with the idiot. 

Chopper came in, took in our positions, and bowed to a stop in the doorway. “Uh, Zoro?”

“She’s a little cold,” I excused myself calmly. 

“I have more blankets…?” he ventured. 

“We’re fine,” I assured him firmly. 

Chopper is a happy-go-lucky idiot that wanders around with Usopp and Luffy doing stupid things half the time. The other half the time, he’s a medical genius that’s patching us up and keeping our hides intact. But occasionally, like now, he gets this mature look on his face that can be disconcerting and penetrating. “Zoro,” he asked quietly, “what happened with Robin?”

“Grundy was going to shoot her. Hell, he might have killed her with the stunt he pulled.” My mouth worked, but nothing else came out. 

He seemed to understand everything I hadn’t said and just patted me on the knee. “You keep an eye on her for me, then.”

I gave him a grateful nod. 

Chopper went around his room for a minute, examining things and opening drawers before he muttered, “Ha!”

“Ha?” I parroted.

“He did get the drug from me. I’m missing a vial of benacine, which is the perfect drug for knocking people unconscious. I use it for deep and intensive surgeries as it’s an anesthetic.” 

About half that explanation went straight over my head, but I got the gist of it. “Chopper, you’re not going to patch him up, are you?”

“I slapped a bandage over his cuts to keep him from bleeding all over the place.” Chopper’s jaw set in a hard line. “That’s about all I feel like doing, considering what he was planning. Nami says she finally remembers who he is—turns out he’s got something of a bounty on his own head. He stole two prisoners from a Marine squadron in order to re-sell them to the government.”

Now why doesn’t that surprise me. It sounds like something Grundy would pull. 

“How we’re going to turn him in when we have our own bounties, well, we haven’t figured that out yet,” Chopper continued ruefully. “Sanji, Franky, and Nami are all for just sticking him in a barrel and throwing him overboard.”

“I second that,” I growled. Only I felt the barrel was optional. 

“Luffy’s deliberating.” 

In that case, we won’t get a decision until the end of the week. 

“Chopper!” Luffy called from the main deck. 

“I’ll keep you posted,” he promised before scooting out the door and answering Luffy’s summons. 

Finally, blissfully, I was alone with Robin with no interruptions looming. I sat there and studied her face for a long, endless time. She really did look peaceful sleeping. This might be the first time in a long time that she’s been able to sleep so deeply. 

Stroking a strand of hair away from her face, I leaned in just enough to press a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Sleep on,” I murmured against her skin. “I’ll guard you while you dream.”


	14. Chapter Fourteen

My eyes opened slowly, reluctantly, as I struggled toward consciousness. How strange, I never wake up like this. I’m always wide awake the instant my eyes open. I had a strange taste in my mouth, too, as if medicated cotton had been stuffed into it. I attempted to swallow only to find my throat rather dry. 

“You gonna wake up this time?”

Zoro. I’d know that voice anywhere. It had come from close by, his breath grazing the skin of my forehead. Actually…was I in his arms? This last realization had me awake instantly and I sat up a little, bracing my hands against his chest. 

“Oh, you are.” Zoro sounded amused, but also vastly relieved. “About time, woman.”

I blinked several times, forcing my eyes to focus on his face. Sitting like this, we were perfectly at eye level. “Zoro. What happened?”

“Grundy,” he growled, good eye narrowing in vexation. “He drugged us all with the coffee and then tried to sail the ship into port by his lonesome.”

All in all, not a bad plan. I’ve executed worse. “And why did he fail?”

“I’m rather immune to drugs and poisons. Thank Hawkeye for that.” He shrugged this off as if it were nothing of consequence, but the only way to become immune to drugs was to be drugged. Just how much had this man endured in order to become stronger? “You were asleep for nearly six hours, by the way.”

Six hours?! I normally manage four hours of sleep, if I’m lucky! “That must have been quite a potent drug.”

“Not really. Chopper said it was…” he frowned. “Actually, I don’t remember what he said it was. Something he uses for surgeries.” 

That narrowed the choices down to about six things he had on hand. “Grundy stole the drug from here?” All of this information was interesting, but it didn’t explain this one crucial question swimming in my mind: Why was Zoro holding me? Attempting to get him around to that point, I prompted, “So, the drug failed to work on you and…?”

“And Franky, fortunately. He got us out of the chains and we snuck up behind Grundy and ambushed him from both sides. He’s now in chains on the main deck, being guarded, until we can figure out what to do with him.”

Again, information I wanted to know, but it didn’t answer the one weighing on me the most. I gave up and finally asked directly, “Why are you holding me? Did I have an adverse reaction to the drug?”

He cleared his throat and looked away, toward the doorway, as if unsure of how to meet my eyes. And was that a blush tinting his cheeks? “No…not really. Chopper said you slept so long just because you needed the sleep. I was, just, ah, worried.”

I studied his expression thoughtfully. No, worried was not the whole answer. When a friend worries about you—as this crew has shown me—they sit next to you on the bed, or they check in on you often, but they don’t hold you while you sleep. And they don’t blush like that either. “Zoro. I think I would prefer the whole truth.”

He steadfastly refused to look at me, eye avoiding mine. “Grundy used you as a hostage. It made me…nervous. And the way you refused to wake up made me nervous. I just kept an eye on you, is all. Here, I’ll let you go now that you’re—”

Oh no you don’t. I pushed him back into position, his shoulders thumping against the wall, head snapping around so that he finally looked at me. I know this man too well, he’s hiding something, I can see it. “Zoro. What else?”

His breathing became strained. “What do you mean?” he asked huskily. 

“You don’t hold someone for six hours with the reasons you’re giving me. What. Else.”

For a long, silent moment he just stared back at me. What was he hesitating for? Was it that bad? I didn’t feel any injuries so it couldn’t be that I was hurt somehow and he wasn’t sure how to break the news to me—wait. Was someone else hurt?! “The rest of the crew is fine, right?” I demanded in growing panic. 

“What? No, no, everyone’s fine. Only injured one is Grundy.”

Oh. I let out a covert breath of relief. Wait, then what is he hiding from me? “Then what is it?”

His mouth moved, but no sound emerged. Then he let his head fall back, thumping loudly against the wall and he said something under his breath that sounded like, “To hell with this.”   
My brows compressed with incomprehension. What…?

Zoro settled a warm hand around the base of my head and drew me into him with gentle strength. Before I could properly process this motion, his mouth settled against mine with sweet heat. 

I’ve had men who tried to hold me before. They never got very far, not with my ability. But never once has my partner been a man I trusted, or respected, like I do Zoro. For once, my first instinct wasn’t to fight my way out of this position. Actually, I froze, not knowing what to feel or do. He wasn’t hurting me. It actually felt rather nice. My emotions were swirling chaotically so that I couldn’t really focus on the kiss, though. 

Wh-why…why was he kissing me?

After that long, slow kiss, he drew back a few inches, just enough so that we could comfortably look at each other. This time, though, it was my turn to be at a loss for words. This man has been my friend, my confidant, my a comrade for years now and never once have I suspected that he wanted to be anything more. I could not mistake the look in his eyes, though. I’ve seen men look at a woman before like that, with hunger and heat and passion. I’ve had men look at me like that, and it was unnerving and made alarms go off in the back of my head. 

With Zoro, I didn’t feel alarmed, but I didn’t know how to respond as I didn’t know what he wanted, either. Surely not a casual tryst? He’s not the type to use a friend that way. 

Licking my lips—and tasting him in the process—I forced my mouth to rally enough to ask him a question. “Zoro—”

Luffy’s head popped around the door. “Oh, Robin, you’re awake!”

For the first time ever, I felt like killing my captain. 

“Good, good, then you can help me figure this out.” He came in all the way and because he was Luffy, he completely missed the tension in the air and the way we were positioned. “We’re not sure what to do with Grundy. Right now we’re divided between just throwing him overboard, throwing him overboard in a barrel, or trying to turn him over to the authorities. I’m not sure which one I like.”

“I’m for throwing him overboard,” Zoro said with an eerie calmness, as if he were growling on some level with feral anger. 

“Hmmm,” Luffy rocked back on his heels, looking more puzzled. “Well, why don’t you join us on the deck and we’ll figure it out together.” Without waiting for our response, he sauntered back out of the infirmary. 

Zoro heaved out a breath that sounded like part sigh and part groan before gently lifting me off his lap and pushing his way to his feet. “We’ll continue this later.”

I watched his retreating back, feeling more confused than ever. Continue what, exactly?

What had he meant by that kiss? 

 

ӁӁӁ

(Zoro POV)

I braced my arms against the railing and stared out over the sea. The ocean was not suiting my mood at all right now. It was calm and peaceful, the water like polished glass reflecting the moon. A part of me wanted it choppy and stormy, to match how I felt. 

That had not been how I planned to handle things!

From that surprised expression on her face, my confession had come out of nowhere, which doesn’t give me favorable odds. I’d planned on slowly, steadily building our relationship up so that when I confessed, she would have seen it coming and had time to think about her answer beforehand. So why, why had I done what I did? 

My ears perked as I heard someone making their way across the grass and to my side. Franky joined me at the railing and offered me a cup. “Sake?”

My eyes cut to the cup he was offering me. “There’s not enough sake in the world to do the job.” Defying my own words, I reached out and took it from him before draining it in one toss. 

“That bad?” Franky turned so that he could brace himself with an elbow on the railing. “Anything to do with how Robin is wandering around the ship in a daze, looking like someone smacked her in the back of the head?”

I grunted sourly. 

“Ahhh. Picture’s becoming clearer.” Franky grinned from ear to ear. “You finally confessed.”

I groaned. “I’m not having this conversation with you, Franky.”

“Come on now, I knew you liked her from that day on Thriller Bark, when I found her hanging out in your room. And unlike Nami or Sanji, I’m not going to use it to my advantage. Who better to talk to?”

He (unfortunately) had a point. Besides, Franky’s probably one of the sanest members of the crew and in spite of the fact that he can act like an idiot, one of the more intelligent as well. So I gave in with a sigh and extended my cup to him for a refill, which he obligingly poured. 

“So how did she take it? Your confession.”

“I’m not sure she took it at all,” I muttered before draining the cup again in a quick motion. “She just stared at me with this dumfounded look. Dammit. I knew better than to do that!”

“So why did you?”

“She was demanding answers, and I didn’t know what to tell her, so I just…just…” I groaned and hit my head against the railing. It didn’t seem to help.

Franky gave me a supportive pat on the back. “There, there. It happens to the best of us. Look at this way, if your neck is still intact, she’s at least open to the idea of you two being together. With Robin’s reflexes, if she didn’t like you, your spine would be in about three pieces by now.”

That was strangely heartening.

“And she cares enough about you that she protested sending you off with Grundy,” he added. 

That was another good point. I raised my head and stared out sightlessly over the sea. We’d gathered around the dinner table, Sanji serving up hot food that we all enjoyed, as we finished the debate on what to do with Grundy. It was Nami that finally settled it for us: if we turned him in, we’d get the bounty, and right now we were short enough on funds that we could use that bounty. Besides, a government prison was a bad place to go, as we all knew well. It seemed like punishment enough for what he tried. As a former bounty hunter, I knew where to go and how to handle things, so I volunteered myself. 

Robin hadn’t liked that idea one bit. 

She’d been quiet, lost in thought for most of the debate, but when I said that, she’d snapped her head up and started arguing with me. But she’d been out voted by everyone else and hadn’t liked it. The only way she’d agreed in the end was that Sanji promised to go in with me. With his piss-poor poster, he had a better chance of passing by marines and bounty hunters alike without getting caught. Me, I had a good chance of being recognized, but I wanted to finish things off with Grundy personally. 

Besides, according to Nami, we were heading for a small island. How much trouble could we possibly run into, even if they did recognize me? If need be, I’d just throw Grundy into the nearest bunch of marines and run. 

I shook myself back into the present. “So, you think I have a fighting chance?”

“I do. Don’t you?”

Frankly, I didn’t know what to think. 

“Give her a little time to think things through,” Franky advised. “Robin’s a thinker, she’s going to need to turn this over in her head a few times before she knows how to respond. Maybe after you throw Grundy into a jail, you can pick up a book for her, give you an excuse to talk to her one on one.”

Now that’s a good plan. “Franky, how come you’re so good with women?”

He grinned at me as he poured me another cup. “Because I’m a super genius, that’s why!”

It’s rather hard to argue that.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Robin called it: It was a bad idea. 

We’d gotten all of four steps on the island’s soil when Grundy yelled as loudly as he could, “THIS IS ROROANA ZORO AND BLACK LEG SANJI OF THE MUGIWARA CREW!”

Of course he said this with a platoon of marines heading down the street toward us. For once, their captain was no slouch, and he instantly started issuing orders to fire at will. Grundy used the chaos to wrest free of Sanji and run immediately for the marines. 

Sanji and I had to immediately duck behind the nearest wall or get riddled with bullets. Why can’t they be firing cannonballs at us? Those I can deal with! 

The love-cook dared to peek around the corner of the building we were using as a shield and almost lost an eyebrow in the process. (Personally, I felt that would be an improvement, but from the way he was swearing, he felt attached to the weird thing.) “We should have listened to Robin-swan and just kicked him off the ship and into the ocean.”

“For once, I agree with you.”

“How are we going to get back to the ship?”

Good question. Out of prudence, the Sunny had been left out of sight of the docks, and we’d taken the little Merry-go instead. But right now, that sat within plain view of the docks and the main street, where the Marines were happily firing. We’d be swiss cheese if we tried to get to that. There was only one conclusion to be made. “No choice. We’re going to have to run for it and try to stay on the shore so they can spot us.”

Sanji looked at me like I had lost what was left of my mind. “The ship is that direction. It means running across the street in plain view of all those Marines!”

“So we run that direction,” I replied tartly, jerking a thumb toward the left.

“The opposite way of where we need to go?”

“You got a better idea? I don’t want to run in front of all those bullets either.” He grumbled something I couldn’t make out. Didn’t care to, either. “Look, all I know is, if we stay here much longer, we’re both dead. We need to move.”

He couldn’t argue about that. “Fine, let’s go. But if we find a rowboat or something, we’re taking it.”

That sounded like a good plan to me. 

Pushing away from the building, we took off, Sanji quickly taking the lead. (Only to myself will I admit that out of the two of us, he is the faster runner.) We went straight for the rocky beach and kept running as fast as we could on the slippery rocks. The marines, predictably, chased after us. But they found it hard to keep their footing and shoot at the same time, so we pulled ahead within minutes and found a little breathing room. 

Unfortunately, our plan to steal the first rowboat or sailing ship that we came across was foiled by the distinct lack of anything in the area. I didn’t even see any well-worn fishing spots. For whatever reason, people seemed to avoid this section of the island. 

Something about that set an alarm off in the back of my head. It wasn’t that big of an island. Granted, the population of the town we’d sailed into hadn’t been large either, but even if it is small, surely they wouldn’t be content to stay inside the town’s limits all of the time. So why not come to this area? 

Sanji slowed to what was, for him, a jogging pace. “Alright, we’ve more or less lost them. Now what? I can always sky walk back to the ship.”

“Not a bad idea. I don’t think I can trust you to lead the crew back to me, though.”

He gave me a smirk that said he had no intention of doing that. “I can carry you with me.”

“So you can drop me into the middle of the ocean and force me to swim to the Sunny? No thanks.” I’d rather deal with the Marines. Speaking of…where did they go? I skidded to a stop and looked behind me, straining my ears. No sign of them at all. “Hold up.”

Sanji stopped as well, giving me an irritated look. “Now what?”

“Where did the Marines go?”

“I told you, we lost them.” 

“No, we got ahead of them,” I corrected, frown deepening. “But they should still be somewhere behind us. I can’t hear them pursuing us anymore. Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”

“Now that you say that…” Sanji put a hand over his eyes, also straining to see through the harsh sunlight. “And why isn’t there any sign of people on this side of the island?”

So he’d noticed that too, huh. That uneasy feeling I had before formed into a hard lump in my stomach. We needed to get out of here. Now. 

Sanji’s expression said the same thing. We didn’t need to argue about this. We both just started running, back the way we had come. If we ran into the Marines again, I had every intention of diving into the ocean and really making a try at swimming for the Sunny. Sanji could do whatever, I didn’t care about him. 

Have you ever, from the corner of your eye, seen something that sent chills down your spine? Even though you haven’t had a proper look at it yet, instinct alone tells you its trouble, and to run for it? 

“ZORO!” Sanji snapped out a warning even as he jumped clear off the beach and into the air. 

I spun, the Wado snapping out of its sheath, and took a diagonal slice out of sheer reflex. There was an ear splitting roar, like the sound of a dinosaur screaming in pain. (I actually knew what that sounded like thanks to a certain prehistoric island.) I leaped back about ten feet to give myself some room to assess. 

And sort of wished I hadn’t. 

What is that thing? 

In front of my eyes, there was this huge green and black monster. It almost had a dragon’s head, except there were tentacles coming out from under its shin and around its ears, like a dragon had mated with an octopus or something. I could only see the top part of its body, rising out of the water, and it had an almost human-like hand with three fingers and a thumb. It looked sort of like a crocodile in body shape, one with a hairy spine. 

“Is that an Iku-Turso?” Sanji asked. 

“How the hell should I know?” All I knew at that moment was that it was big, and ugly, and it apparently wanted us for a mid-morning snack. My slice in his direction had loped off the end of a tentacle, and the monster was very not happy about that. Rearing back, it levered its body more fully out of the water to give him the reach he needed to lunge at me. 

I jumped sideways, landed somewhat awkwardly on the uneven surface of the beach, and went for my other three swords. I’d need them all to defeat this thing. Sword in my mouth, sword in either hand, I braced myself for the next attack. 

This time, he didn’t use his tentacles to try and slap at me, but two hands instead. One hand alone was large enough to grab me like I was a child’s toy. Two was overkill. Not wanting to get caught in that grasp, I charged him instead and struck out at the wrists. They sliced cleanly, crippling him. 

The Iku-whatever let out a roar of pain and lunged backwards, crashing into the ocean and sending a wave of sea water my way. I set my feet, bracing as best I could, and snapped my mouth shut before I could swallow any of it. It washed over me like a miniature tidal wave, there and gone again in the blink of an eye. Choking a little, I used a wet shirt sleeve to wipe the water out of my face so I could see properly. 

Sanji landed neatly next to me, perfectly dry, the jerk. “I saw him dive deep. I think you scared him off.”

I gave him a glare that should have melted that smile off his face. “Thanks for the help.”

“Ahhh,” Sanji crooned in mock-sympathy, “Did little Zoro need the help?”

“Jerk off.” Slamming my swords home, I turned on my heel and stomped away.

“Wrong direction, idiot,” Sanji called to me.

Swearing, I spun around and went the other way, following him. “So, monster is scared away. Why are we heading back toward town?”

“I got a good look while I was up there. The Sunny is heading our way.”

This time, I really turned the air blue with curses. Of course they were. They’d probably heard all the gunfire, figured something had gone wrong, and was coming our direction to help. “Love-cook, go ahead and tell them we’re fine. I’d rather not have them land.”

“Just don’t get lost. I don’t want to come back looking for you.”

He would, too. Robin and Luffy and Chopper would all make sure he would. “I’ll be fine. Go.”

He went, of course, truly not concerned about my well-being. I kept running along the shoreline, making sure the sea was always to my left. See? Even I can navigate strange places without getting lost. The idea that I can get lost on an island this small was more than a little insulting. 

After a few minutes, voices came from up ahead. I slowed, then went down to a cautious crawl, edging more into the trees so that I could come in without being discovered. Only a fool walks into a place where he doesn’t know how many of the enemy he might face. 

The Marines had not gone all the way back into town but had instead stopped on the rocky beach, debating amongst themselves. 

“—if that really was Roroana Zoro and Black Leg Sanji, then the Iku won’t be able to defeat them,” one Marine was arguing heatedly. “Haven’t you heard the stories on those two?”

“But they’re just that,” another Marine retorted, exasperated. “Stories. You know how those things get blown out of proportion.”

“I head Zoro destroyed a pirate ship by himself at Saboady. I don’t think a sea monster is going to be much of a challenge,” yet a third Marine piped up. “I think we should go and look.”

“Idiot!” the first one hissed, lowering his voice. “All of us together can’t defeat the Iku. Why would you want us to chase down a man that can? That’s like a suicide mission!”

Well, what do you know. A marine that can think. That’s a rare species right there. 

This conversation left me with a weird decision to make. Did I appear, and erase all doubt that I had survived? Doing that would mean defeating every Marine there. Which was doable, granted, but it was a rather unnecessary fight. Or, I could skirt around them entirely and head toward the Sunny without fighting them. Hmm, decisions. 

The factor that weighed in the most was time. It’d take me a few minutes to defeat all of these guys. The Sunny was already heading in my direction. If I wasted too much time here, then the crew would land, and they’d get tangled up in trouble. I’d rather we just sailed on. Decision made. I’ll just skirt around them. 

Heading deeper into the tree line, I went back toward town, avoiding the Marines as I went.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

It’s not often that I get truly upset with Sanji. Most of the time, I find him useful or entertaining, sometimes moderately irritating. But right now, I was perilously close to punching him. “What do you mean you left him behind?”

His visible eye went wide. “Robin-swan, my dearest, don’t look at me like that. It’s just a dozen Marines, he’ll be fine. He sent me ahead to make sure you guys didn’t come any closer to the island. There’s a sea monster that lurks nearby.”

“Sea monster, huh?” Luffy said, scrubbing at the back of his head with a careless hand. “Sounds fun. Where is it?”

“Sea monsters are NOT fun, Luffy!” Usopp wailed in protest. 

“Ah, probably hiding in the depths of the sea right now,” Sanji admitted. “Moss-head hurt it pretty bad. Anyway, don’t dock, okay?”

Why, why did he seem so unconcerned? I admit that Zoro can take care of himself, even against a sea monster, but leaving Zoro on an island alone meant he would get lost. It was inevitable. And the situation was worse because he was alone on a Marine-infested island with Grundy wandering loose. Grundy had already outsmarted the whole crew once, he’d probably be able to do it again. That man was crafty. 

Luffy must have seen from my expression that I didn’t like this situation one bit. He flapped a hand at me. “He’ll be fine, Robin, no worries. Sanji, go back and get him.”

“It’s against my policy to carry men,” he sniffed, nose in the air. 

“Sanji-san.” I smiled at him, trying to keep my anger from showing. “Go get him for me. Please.”

His eyes went heart shaped. “Of course, my sweet lady! Anything for you!” With an agile leap off the deck, he was in the air again, skipping back toward the island. 

After he left, I realized my mistake. Sanji might be willing to grab Zoro for me after that sweet talking, but there was no way in hell that Zoro would be willing to let him. Those two live to get on each other’s nerves. Swearing, I activated my Hana Hana no Mi wings and took off after him. 

“Robin!” Nami called after me. “It’s okay, they’ll be fine!”

I turned in the air long enough to call back, “You convinced me last night, but I won’t buy that a second time!”

I’m sure Nami had a great deal to say about that, but I was out of earshot by that point, and I ignored her and everyone else. My crewmates were likely right, and Zoro probably could handle anything that came at him on that island, but it didn’t change the fact that he was alone. And when he was alone, he got lost. It was a certainty. If we were to have any hope of leaving this island before Christmas, someone needed to fetch him back again. 

And he was more likely to go with me than Sanji.

A blush heated my cheeks. More likely? Who was I kidding? Zoro had made it clear yesterday that he wanted us to be lovers. Or…he sort of had. That’s how I had interpreted the kiss initially. It was late at night that doubts started to set in. He hadn’t said he wanted to be lovers, all that kiss meant was that he was attracted to me, and I couldn’t take it as anything more until he clarified. But Zoro voluntarily coming up to me and telling me everything I needed to hear was obviously not going to happen. I had put myself into several spots this morning, giving him the opportunity to come and talk to me, but it was clear he was confused and didn’t know how to approach me right now. 

Or maybe I was misinterpreting things. Again. Maybe he felt like he had told me everything he needed to already. Perhaps he was simply waiting on my response. Yes, knowing Zoro, that was more likely. 

I shook my head roughly, setting the matter aside for now. I could get him to clarify things later. Right now, I had a man to fetch. 

ӁӁӁ

(Zoro POV)

Dammit, where was I? Frustrated, I looked around me, seeing nothing but trees in every direction. When had I wandered completely away from the coastline? I had specifically kept the beach to my left this entire time to avoid getting lost. So how had I still ended up in this situation? 

Scrubbing at the back of my head, I growled aloud, “I should have plowed through those Marines and damned the consequences.”

Hindsight would not save me right now. I was lost, on an island that was bad to be lost on, and when the crew found me, I would never live this down. Those two facts were guaranteed. Being in the middle of this forest would make it hard to find me. I had to at least figure out where the coastline was and get back on it. If the sea monster found me again, well, I’ll deal with him. 

And why, why do all the trees look the same?! I couldn’t get my bearings in this place! 

From overhead, an annoyingly familiar voice called out, “ZORO!”

Sanji. I seriously debated on whether to answer him or not, as he was sure to laugh about me getting lost in the ten minutes he’d left me alone. I weighed it against being stuck out here for hours, with a sea monster one side, pesky marines on the other, and a growling stomach. It was very, very close, but being found by Sanji proved the more favorable option. With a sigh of reluctance, I lifted my face to the sky and called, “DOWN HERE!”

“WHERE?”

“HERE, YOU NUMBSKULL!” 

“Ah, there you are.” He appeared between several branches of the trees, landing neatly not five feet away from me. “How can you possibly get lost not three hundred meters away from the coastline?”

Was I really that close to it? I growled at him, “I was avoiding the Marines, is all. They were hanging out over there, debating on whether we’d survived the sea monster or not.”

“Yeah, yeah, like I believe that.” Jerking a thumb toward the sky, he added, “Robin-swan came to look with me. I don’t think she can carry you back to the ship, though.”

“You’re not carrying me either,” I informed him flatly. I’d rather swim. 

Robin appeared overhead, hovering. She had that taut look to her eyes that suggested she was panicking on some internal level. “Sanji-san, Zoro, we need to go. Now.”

“Problem?” I asked her, almost redundantly.

“There’s three naval ships heading our direction, and one of them is flying an Admiral’s flag.”

Yeah, that’d be a problem, alright. Admirals are ridiculously hard to fight. I started swearing.

“Which one?” Sanji asked her, also worried. 

She shook her head roughly. “Not one I recognize.”

They’d been promoting new Admirals recently because of their losses. That made it worse, in a way, because it would mean facing someone with an ability or fighting power that we wouldn’t have a clue about. Worse, Admirals tended to cart about those stupid Kuma-lookalikes that cause us no end of trouble. 

I held out a hand to Sanji. “Let’s go.”

“Scared of the Admiral?” He sneered, but willingly grasped my forearm in a tight grip. 

“If you had any sense, you’d want to avoid him too. What do you think Luffy is going to do once he finds out one’s heading our direction? And what if this Admiral has one of those Kuma robots?”

Sanji frowned. He would never say something like, ‘Good point’ but his silence alone said he agreed with me. With a kicked off into the air, he went skyward, branches slapping lightly against our skin as he moved. I felt the strain on my arm as he hauled me along in his wake. 

“At least we know now why there’s so many Marines on this island,” I said, half to myself. 

Robin came in a little closer, her wing tips nearly brushing my arm. “Perhaps the Admiral came here to deal with the sea monster?”

Sanji laughed, apparently finding this funny. “So Zoro did his work for him? That’s hilarious.”

If he wasn’t the one keeping me airborne, I’d have punched him for that. 

The short flight back to the ship was largely done in silence. I kept darting glances at Robin, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Which was futile. I hardly ever figure out what she’s thinking. She hadn’t responded to my awkward confession of yesterday. But the way she immediately came to get me when I was in a spot of trouble meant that whatever her feelings about the confession, I was still important to her. And that gave me some hope. 

We got onto the Sunny without a problem, and left the island without running into the Admiral, the Marines, or any other sea monsters. We didn’t get a bounty for Grundy, of course, which made Nami fume. But we did get rid of him, so I counted it as a victory of sorts. 

The rest of the day passed without anything happening. I did catch Franky and Robin having a private conversation at the helm, although I was too far away to hear what they were talking about. I could only hope that Franky was putting in a good word for me, as I had no idea what else to say to Robin at this point. He seemed a strange choice to be matchmaker on this ship, but I trusted him to do it more than other people. Like Nami. Or Luffy. Or Usopp. 

I stood the night watch as I always did, but Robin didn’t come up to see me. I tried to tell myself it was a good sign, because it meant she was thinking about things. But my heart wasn’t convinced by this pep talk and I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. It made for a late rising on my part and I had to down three cups of coffee just to get my eye fully open. 

Not knowing what else to do, I went up to the crow’s nest and did my usual strength training. The rhythm of lifting the weights and dropping them again was familiar and distracting. Training will never fail you. That lesson had been hardwired into my mind and body so thoroughly that no matter how much my heart might be in a mess, training always made me feel better. 

Without warning, the hatch opened up and Robin’s head popped through. I paused with my feet over my head, the barbell balanced on the soles of my feet, and twisted my head about so I could see her better. She hesitated upon seeing my position. “I’m sorry,” she said in that smooth, cultured voice of hers. “I’m interrupting.”

“No,” I assured her quickly. It was the first time in two days that she had made an effort to speak to me one-on-one. I could shorten my usual training routine a little if it meant finally talking to her. “This was my last set. Come up.” 

As she climbed the rest of the way in, I flexed my legs, throwing the weights into the air enough so that I could quickly flip back onto my feet and catch the barbell with my hands. I might have done so with a bit more flair than I usually would. Maybe. 

Robin looked impressed with the sheer size of the weights if nothing else. She normally didn’t catch me with them when I trained. She always seemed to come up in the middle of my sword training instead. I snatched up a towel as she bent to close the hatch behind her, wiping the worst of the sweat off. 

She handed me a glass of cold water, which I took gratefully and chugged the whole thing down. It sent pleasant icy tendrils through my overheated body. 

“I have a question for you, Zoro.”

Eh? I lowered the glass and looked at her carefully. She had that serious expression that I’d seen when she’d encountered a problem she didn’t know a solution to. I put the towel and glass carefully aside. “Okay, ask.”

“What do you want from me?” she demanded, almost sounding frustrated. 

I blinked. I thought I had made it clear…no, come to think of it, I hadn’t said anything. I’d showed her what I wanted, or thought I had. Dammit, I shouldn’t have done that. Robin’s an intellectual, she’s going to respond better to words than action. 

Shaking my head at myself, I tried to find the right words to set her straight. “No, Robin. You misunderstood me. I don’t want something from you. I want you.”

She paused, mouth open, as if for a second she didn’t know how to respond to that. Then a cynical smile took over her face and she responded coolly, “Me? You want an infamous assassin who has worked and destroyed one crime organization after another?”

Did she still really think of herself that way? No wonder I was having a hard time getting through to her. “I want the woman that quietly reads one book after another so that she will always have the knowledge she needs to help her comrades,” I responded quietly. The words hit her like a sucker punch and she drew in a shaky breath, her eyes unable to look away from mine. I took a slow step forward with every sentence, closing the gap between us. “I want the woman that takes my arm whenever we go into a new town so that I don’t spend hours trying to find the ship. I want the woman whose love and loyalty is so strong that she bartered her life for this whole crew’s sake.”

I was getting through now. She was nearly shaking, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. Daring to reach out, I lifted a hand and gently stroked her upper arm. “You were thrown into this insane world at the tender age of eight years old and you did what you needed to in order to survive and reach your goals. I’ve never judged you because of that.” 

She shook her head rapidly. “You didn’t trust me when I came on board.”

“Of course I didn’t. You’d been trying to kill us. I didn’t know what your purpose here was.” Luffy had, though. I’m not sure if it’s because he saw something about her that told him she was a good person, or if his instincts with people really are that accurate. I’m betting it’s the latter. I’ve learned to trust him more since he’s been right every time. “But it was never your history or your reputation that made me wary of you. I just didn’t know what you were up to.” 

Her eyes closed, emotions warring across her face as if she were fighting some internal battle. I didn’t know what else to say and honestly, talking was not my strong point. Surely I’d said enough at this point anyway. 

Very, very gently—because I was honestly scared of frightening her at this point—I leaned in and kissed her forehead. It did make her jump, as if I took her by surprise, but she didn’t jerk away or run screaming. Oddly encouraged, I shifted to her temple and kissed her again. This close, I could smell mint and the sweet scent of woman coming off her skin. My heart started trying to beat its way out of my chest at our closeness, the way that she quietly accepted my touch, all of it. 

I shifted, brushing our noses together, trying to give her the chance to back out before I lost all sense and reason. But she didn’t need it. Robin angled her head so that her mouth met mine in a sweet, slow kiss. 

Mmmm. Yes. I shifted slightly, deepening the kiss, bringing her in closer to me, and this time I didn’t feel the slightest trace of resistance. In fact, she wound her arms around my neck and snuggled into me even more. 

I felt my sense of reason take a flying leap out the window. Damn, not good. Wait, me. Going too far and too fast right now would be a bad move all around. I didn’t just want this woman’s body, but her heart, and I don’t think I really had that yet. It would take more patience on my part to win all of her. I broke the kiss and separated us a little. As in, three inches. “Robin, stop me,” I panted out. 

Her eyes were a little dazed as she asked in confusion, “What?”

“Stop me,” I repeated, almost pleading. “In about three seconds, I’m going to haul you to the nearest bench and start making love to you and I don’t think you’re ready for that yet.” 

She relaxed back, putting more distance between us, although her hands rested against my chest so that we remained in contact. For the longest moment, she looked at me, her eyes analyzing every corner of my face. “Zoro, what do you want?”  
I blew out a breath. “I told you. I want you.” 

“You can have me, right this second.”

“I can have your body and that incredible passion right this second,” I corrected. “But you’re not in love with me, Robin. Not yet. I’m a greedy man. I want the whole package.”

A man can always tell when he’s finally said the right thing. Robin gave me the softest, most pleased smile I’ve ever seen from her. She tilted her head a little, just enough to close the small gap in our height, and gave me a lingering kiss. My body shook under the force of it. It made me want to skip taking her to the bench and pin her to the floor, but I somehow managed to rein in that instinct. 

When she drew back, she had mercy on me and stepped away entirely. I needed the space desperately to cool my head. “I thought,” she stated softly, “that this was a temporary impulse on your part.” 

I snorted. “Far from it. If it were temporary, I would never have approached you to begin with.” 

She nodded in understanding. A temporary tryst can do a lot of damage in a crew this small, because it’ll inevitably end badly and people would take sides, which would cause an all-out war. You don’t try to make a comrade a lover unless you’re dead certain about your own feelings.

“Can I ask how long you’ve felt this way?”

I didn’t see how it mattered, but… “A little over two years ago I realized it.” 

Whatever answer she expected, it wasn’t that. She gave me the most dumbfounded expression I’ve ever seen from her. “Two years? Before we were separated by Kuma?”

“Right as we were,” I corrected with a grimace. “You can say that separating from you gave me an epiphany of sorts.” 

“Ahhh.” Her eyes turned inward, as if using this information to sort through things mentally. “So that’s why you responded as you did when we reunited.” 

Huh? Oh. Come to think of it, it would look odd from her perspective because she didn’t know my feelings had changed during those two years. Well, not changed, but more that I became aware of them. “Ah, yeah, that’d be why.” 

Her eyes darted down to the floor. “Until we’ve sorted this out between us, I’d rather not talk about it to any of them.”

Them, meaning the rest of the crew? “Me either,” I admitted frankly. After all, the last time they’d interfered—even though it had been teasing and good intentioned—it had caused a rift between Robin and I that took considerable effort on my part to straighten out. I don’t want a repeat of that, thanks all the same. “You should know, though, that Franky’s already aware of all of this.”

“Is he now.” Her head slanted as she took this in. “So that’s why he said what he did to me earlier…hmm, I see. But I’m somewhat surprised. You spoke with him?”

Meaning, I normally have to be blackmailed or threatened before I confide in anyone but her? Well, she’s half right. “He caught me in a weak moment and offered me sake.”

“Ahhh.” Her eyes crinkled up in amusement. “Anyone else?”

“Not that I know of.” Well, I’d lay odds that Chopper’s figured at least part of this out by now. And Nami, because let’s face it, not much gets past her. If Sanji knew, he’d already be out for my head. Luffy’s more or less oblivious, as is Usopp. And Brook? Well, who knew. Maybe? 

“Well enough.” She seemed satisfied at the situation. 

Resigned to the inevitable, I tried not to either sigh in frustration or groan. “I take it that now you understand me, you need to think about this.”

“I do,” she admitted frankly. 

Figures. I reminded myself sternly that I was an adult. Adults do not whine. I’d survive another few days while she thought. 

Putting a finger to her lips, she cocked her head slightly. I’m sure Robin had no intention of looking sexy doing that little gesture. It was just my frustrated libido that interpreted it as an open invitation. “There is one thing that you can do to perhaps persuade me to make up my mind faster.”  
I perked up hopefully. “That is?”

Robin crooked a finger at me, gesturing me closer. I crossed to her and was completely taken by surprise when she wound her arms around my shoulders and whispered against my mouth, “This.”

My brain shut off as Robin gave me by far the most intense, seductive kiss we’ve ever exchanged. In fact, it took a full second for me to regain my mind after she broke it. “That?”

“A lot of that,” she said mock seriously, eyes twinkling. 

Huskily, I responded, “I can do that.”

Like a siren singing to a sailor, she melted into me. “I was sure you could.”


	17. 17.5

“You kissed ZORO?!”

I frantically waved her down. “Nami, you’re too loud.”

Even though we were alone in our bedroom, the walls weren’t really that thick, and if you were loud enough, anyone passing by could hear. (We knew this very well because we can hear Luffy snoring every night.) Nami clamped her mouth shut, shooting a look at the door to make sure that no one was going to suddenly barge into the conversation, but she was too excited to sit still. She bounced on the mattress to get closer to me, leaning forward to be more conspiratory. “You really, really kissed him?”

I groaned and rubbed at my eyes. How in the world had I managed to confess that to her? I’d just sworn yesterday to Zoro that the only person I’d talk to about this was Franky! Nami only had a suspicion when she’d confronted me. 

I swear, this girl can weasel information out of people like a professional spy. 

Seeing my unease, she patted me on the knee. “You can tell me. I won’t spread it around. Promise.”

“I don’t want this going throughout the crew,” I pleaded. “Not yet. I’m…not sure of my own feelings yet.”

She blinked. Then blinked again. “You kissed him and you’re not sure of your feelings?”

“I dare any woman to not react when he kisses you,” I drawled, a flush heating up my cheeks. “You’d have to be dead to not respond.”

“Ew. No offense, Robin, seriously, but ew. Zoro is like my brother. The brother I never had. If he tried to kiss me, I’d zap him.”

I actually was a little offended by that reaction. But I understood her point. “Thereby meaning…”

“Meaning you do have feelings for him. You’d have snapped his spine in half if you didn’t. I know you. When you panic, you break bones first and apologize later.”

That was another good point. 

Taking pity, she put an arm around my shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. “Robin. You’ve been alone way too long. It took you ages just to adjust to the idea of having crewmates and comrades. Now, all of a sudden, you’re facing the idea of having a lover. And I bet you never once considered that before.”

“No,” I admitted slowly. “No, I never did. I didn’t think it was possible.” Just a crew I trusted was a miracle in and of itself. 

“Right? Which is why this is such a mental hurdle for you. Because you’ve never even tried to imagine it.”

I think Nami just hit the nail on the head. That was the problem exactly. I never even imagined it, so it was hard to wrap my head around it when Zoro offered such a relationship to me. I tried imagining it now but there were parts of it that came easy, and other parts of it that remained blank no matter how hard I tried to put things in focus. The physical part of our relationship, that was easy, after that steamy make out session yesterday. Zoro, I have no doubt, will prove to be a passionate and attentive lover. 

“You’re thinking about something dirty right now, aren’t you?”

Broken out of my thoughts, I lifted a hand to my face, chuckling. “I was trying to imagine Zoro as a lover.”

“Uh-huh.” Nami sat back, arm sliding free, a rueful smile on her face. “I take it that went well.”

“The physical aspect, at least.” My smile faded. “It’s the rest I don’t know how to handle.”

“Uh, Robin? You do realize that you and Zoro have basically been platonic lovers for about three years, right?”

My head creaked around so I could stare at her incredulously. “We’ve been friends for three years.”

“And confidants. And each other’s support. I grant you, part of all of that is because you’re crewmates and comrades, and what you were doing was normal. But Robin, you bring Zoro coffee and food on a regular basis when he’s on watch. He does the same with you. I’ve seen you both do it. You look out for each other on a level that a regular friend wouldn’t think to do. And when you had that issue with your island’s history, the only person that you wanted to talk to was Zoro. Doesn’t that tell you right there how much you trust him?”

I hadn’t thought of it as an issue of trust, per se. I just realized at a certain point that Zoro was likely to be the person who would have an answer for me. The rest of what she said, well, that I couldn’t find a logical response for. “Does that mean I should accept?”

“Don’t rush into this,” she advised. “You’re wise to give yourself some time to think this through and get comfortable with it. Zoro’s giving you time to think, right? I thought so. Then think. All I’m saying is, you meet two of the three criteria.”

“There’s criteria?” That was the first I’d heard about it.

“Sure. Well, according to my sister there is. When you are in a relationship with someone, you should: 1) Trust them completely, 2) Be physically attracted to them, and 3) Be in love with them. Well, she also said once you should be a better person because you’re with them, but I think that one’s too obvious to mention most of the time. Especially in this case. You two bring out the best in each other without even trying.”

I cupped my mouth with a hand, thinking over her words for a long moment. “So all I need to decide is if I’m in love with him.”

“Right.” Nami shrugged. “And only you can figure that out. My advice ends here. Now, for my knowledge, anyone else know about this?”

“Franky-san.”

“Really?” Nami cocked her head in a gesture of mild surprise. “You told him?”

“He apparently figured it out on his own. And then had it confirmed by Zoro.”

“Hmmm. Well, he is more observant than I give him credit for.” Satisfied, she pushed herself back to her feet and sauntered for the door. “I’ll take a bath, I think.”

“Thank you, Nami.” I knew good and well she chose to leave in that moment to give me space to think. 

At the doorway, she paused and gave me a wink. “Anytime. And keep me posted.”

I smiled at her wryly but didn’t promise that. I wasn’t sure I’d be comfortable giving her a daily report. I snorted at my own thought. Who am I kidding? If Nami wants to know something, she’ll find a way to weasel it out of me. 

Flopping back on the bed, I turned our conversation over and over again in my mind. So. All I had to figure out was if I was in love with Zoro or not, eh? 

How in the world was I supposed to do that?


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had this originally posted on ff.net and finally got an invitation to this site, hence why I posted it again here. That said, this means that both sites now have everything I've written. You'll have to bear with me as I try to finish the story. 
> 
> I have every intention of this being done somewhere in the near future as I want to conclude the story before they get to Green Bit. I swear I have a good ending in mind. I even have the epilogue written! It's just going to be another...er...five to six chapters before I conclude. I think. (Don't quote me on that.)

Unfortunately I didn’t get an answer from Robin before Luffy once again got us into a sticky situation. I don’t know how he manages to do it, but every time we come across a new island, Luffy manages to up the crazy. Whoever heard of a place that was as hot as a volcano on one side, and like the arctic on the other? With a dragon playing guard dog? It had even come complete with a mad scientist. 

During the whole fiasco on Punk Hazard, there was one thing that soothed my nerves. I noticed that unless things went really wrong, Robin chose to be near me. Usually right at my side. She never said anything but the trust she displayed at putting her back to mine made me warm inside. It also gave me hope. 

We saw the kids off on the tanker with G5, boarded the Sunny, and set sail for a more normal climate. I would have stuck Punk Hazard under the label of “All’s well that ends well” except for one thing: Law. 

I still wasn’t quite sure what I felt about this plan of his. I was all for taking down a potential threat, but taking down one of the four kings? Well, that’s tricky. If we didn’t go about this right, odds were we’d lose some of the crew in the process. Call me sentimental, but I was rather attached to the idiots by now and didn’t care to lose any of them. Even Love Cook. 

Fortunately, it seemed Law had thought about this long and hard. He sat us all down on the deck and walked us through his plan. Some people were paying better attention than others (this was typical, Brooke was even snoring), but by some miracle Luffy was actually following. It helped that Law kept it short and simple. Robin, I noticed, was acting as if she weren’t really interested but I recognized that look in her eyes. She was calculating things at high speed. 

We had to turn in the exact opposite direction of Dressrosa to avoid an insane hailstorm that dropped hail the side of small mountains, which interrupted the talk. Once we were through, Nami took Momo for a tour around the ship, which gave me a chance to talk to Robin. 

I went directly to her and lowered my voice so the rest of the crew couldn’t overhear me. “You think this plan of his will work?”

“I think it will put the odds more in our favor.” She nibbled delicately on the edge of her thumb. “I’m no strategist, I can’t plan out a battle, and this crew isn’t the type to follow a battle plan anyway. He knows more than we do about the enemy, though, and he seems to think we have a good chance if we team up.”

So basically, we were of the same mind. 

“I do have one concern,” she continued with a thoughtful look toward the kitchen. “I spoke with Sanji-san earlier and he said that we would be fine sailing for another week or so, which would carry us to Dressrosa, but…”

“There’s no guarantee we can stock up the kitchen while we’re in Dressrosa,” I finished. “That is a problem. I’ll talk to Law and Nami, they have a better idea of what’s ahead of us, and see if we can stop before we get there.”

“Please do.”

Law hadn’t moved from the bench so I went and sank next to him without invitation. “Law. We don’t have enough of a food supply to last us through Dressrosa. Is there a place we can stop and stock up before we get there?”

He thought for a moment before offering, “Two, but both of them are under Doflamingo’s influence, so it’ll be somewhat risky to land there.”

I weighed factors in my head. “We still have to stop. Odds of us being able to shop on Dressrosa are nonexistent.”

Law gave me a penetrating stare. “Isn’t this something to discuss with your captain?”

“Luffy-san doesn’t think of food until he’s hungry,” Robin explained with an indulgent chuckle. “Is there a preference on your part of which island would be a better stop?”

“Yes, one of them is larger than the other, so it’ll be easier for us to blend in.”

“After Nami is done with her tour, I’ll have her speak to you,” Robin promised. With a last smile, she wandered off. 

Law looked around him, expression opening up enough for me to see that he was in a state of slight shock. The crew was going around doing their usual stunts, which ranged from Usopp running around fixing things to Luffy looking for stuff to get into. I do admit that on a day to day basis the crew had all of the discipline of nursery school children. It’s only when there’s danger that we pull together as a unit. 

I slapped a hand onto his back. “You’ll get used to it.”

He turned disbelieving eyes on me. “This is normal?”

“Yup, sure is.” Getting up, I headed for the crow’s nest, as it was past time for me to do some training today. I didn’t get far before Kin figured out that the sword on my waist was one of his country’s national treasures and he started chasing me around ordering for me to give it back. I didn’t draw on him, just dodged, but I had no intention of giving it back either. I hadn’t robbed the grave, I’d just won it off an opponent, and that made it mine. 

After that, the usual nonsense occurred, as we ran into trouble in the form of giant fighting rabbits. Breed was one of the stupider villains that we had to fight against, and one of the more annoying. Of course, thanks to him, we lost Ceaser temporarily. It hadn’t been fun getting him back. 

With the dust settled, we went back to sailing and Law finally talked to Nami and Sanji about a good destination. The distractions were gone and I fell into a nervous tick of wondering just when Robin would be done ‘thinking’ and could give me an answer. I noticed that she didn’t venture far from me, and if she had a choice on where to sit, it was usually next to me, all of which eased my nerves. But none of that meant she was in love with me, just that she preferred my company over the rest. 

I tried to be patient and kept a general eye on things, as I usually did. We randomly remembered to feed our prisoner, tried to keep a curious eight-year-old from getting into parts of the ship that he shouldn’t, and trained like normal. Over the next few days, Law slowly started to adapt to the crazy pace of the crew. Or, at least, he stopped sighing as much and just let things roll. 

One bright, sunny morning, Nami was up at the helm with Franky when she called down, “Island ahead!”

Granted, I hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to where we were, but wasn’t the nearest island still supposed to be another three days out? I was curious enough to go up and take a look for myself. The island coming into view wasn’t the largest we’d seen, in fact it looked about the size of Punk Hazard. It was lush and green, not a trace of dinosaurs or snow or weird rabbits in sight. Dare I hope it was a normal island on the Grand Line? 

“Weird.” Nami pulled out one chart after another, flipping through them, chewing on her bottom lip as she did. “This island isn’t on any of the charts.”

Of course it wasn’t a normal island. Color me surprised. 

Leaning over the railing, Nami called down to the pirate sitting on the tree bench: “Law! Come up!”

He stood at her hail and came without a quibble. Nami’s call caught Robin’s attention, who had been reading in a chair nearby, and she came up as well. 

“What is it?” Law asked. 

Nami pointed to the island dead ahead. “Do you recognize it? It’s not on any of my charts.”

Law frowned and borrowed her eyeglass long enough to take a closer look. “No. I don’t recognize it. Are you sure we’re on course?”

Nami gave him an affronted look. “Of course I am. See?” She lifted her wrist compass so he could see it with his own eyes. 

“This is strange,” he said to himself as well as to everyone listening in. “I’ve been through here multiple times and I’ve never seen this island before.” 

“But we need to stop here, don’t we?” The way Robin said this, it wasn’t really a question. “Sanji-san said we’re too low on food. He can make it stretch to our destined stop, but it will be a serious stretch.”

“I’d rather not do that, not on the Grand Line,” Nami negated. “I mean, if we can sail directly there without a problem, I’d say we keep going rather than stop on a mystery island. But random storms and tides come up all the time that mess up my navigation. I can’t guarantee that we’ll make it in three days.”

Sanji hadn’t calculated the rate we would use up food right. I normally would lay the blame solely on him but as it turns out there was a good reason why his estimate had been off. Momo and Kin both ate like a horse, enough to almost put Luffy to shame. It would be hard for any kitchen to stock up enough food to feed three Luffys.

Nami raised the glass back to her eye and gave the island a very careful study. “This time, I can honestly say that it’s not a ship. It’s definitely an island.” Lips pursed, she leaned over the railing again and called out, “LUFFY!”

He had been raiding the kitchen but at her hail poked his head out, a chicken leg sticking out of his mouth. “Whaa!”

“Come up here, we need you to make a decision.”

Still munching on his snack, he threw an arm out, grabbed the railing, and snapped himself up and over to her side. “What is it?”

“We’re short on food, and we’re thinking that we might need to stop at that island instead of our planned destination,” Nami explained. “But the island isn’t on any of my charts and Law doesn’t recognize it either.”

“A mystery island?” he asked, eyes lighting up. “Sounds fun. Let’s stop.”

I just knew that was going to be his answer.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

 

Robin came down the gangplank with me, surveying the area with a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. I looked around as well but really the place looked normal. Almost abnormally normal. There was a main street that connected to the docks, buildings that housed businesses lining either side of it. People were going about on their own routines, not paying us more than a glance, which suggested that pirates were not unusual here. It looked like every other small port town in existence. 

“It reminds me of that story you read to me the other day,” I muttered to Robin. “About the unwary fly that was invited to dinner by the spider.”

“It does somehow have that vibe, doesn’t it?” she agreed, eyes narrowed. “And yet I can’t put my finger on why.”

I couldn’t put my finger on it either, which was bugging me. Maybe it was just my sixth sense tingling in warning but I had a bad feeling about this place. “If we shop really quick and get out of here, do you think we can avoid trouble?”

“With Luffy?” She laughed softly. “I wouldn’t bet on it.” 

She had a very good point. “Remind me, again, why you chose to board this ship?”

“Because I was desperate,” she answered forthrightly, casting me a wink. “Like you were when you joined up.”

She had me there. “So what’s made us stay with this lunatic?”

Putting a finger to her lips, she pretended to think about it. “The lure of free entertainment?”

Snorting, I didn’t deny it. “Well, in the interest of avoiding at least some trouble, take my arm.” I crooked an elbow toward her. 

It soothed a corner of my heart when she readily linked arms with me. “What are we shopping for, aside from the sake and cola?”

“Anything edible.” I struck off toward the main street. Glancing back, I saw that Chopper was heading off with Law, which relieved me. The only two people that were guaranteed to attract trouble were Robin and Chopper. If those two were accompanied by someone, then the odds of us getting sucked into trouble lowered. At least a little. Well, Nami of course drew men in as well, but I wasn’t insane enough to try to protect her. It wouldn’t be me protecting her so much as protecting the men she was fleecing. She’d have my hide for interrupting.

The fourth store to our left was a tavern, which I took to be a good place to stop, so we went in. The place had a stench to it that said the owner wasn’t too concerned with mopping up and the press of sailors and laborers made it difficult to navigate toward the bar. More than one hand reached for Robin as she passed and those men quickly gained broken fingers for trying to grope something that didn’t belong to them. After I broke three hands, the men got the message, and a clear path abruptly opened its way in front of us. 

I glanced at Robin and found a small smile playing around her mouth. “What?”

“It’s so relaxing, taking a walk with you,” she explained simply. 

Of course it was. I was beating off all the men for her. But even though it was a little troublesome, I warmed to that smile. I’d fight this whole tavern if she asked me to, she knew that, but it was nice that she didn’t take me for granted either. 

Finally we reached the dark wooden bar. Robin leaned an elbow against the surface, grimaced, then gingerly pulled it back. I took one look at the grimy surface and kept my hands clear of it. The barkeep ambled over, stains all along his shirt and paunched belly, good eye glaring us, the lazy one looking elsewhere. “Whadya want?” he demanded in a rasping voice. 

“How much sake do you have?” I asked evenly. 

“Too much for you to carry,” he responded forthrightly. “It’s 50 beri a barrel.”

Ouch. Not exactly the best of prices. Still, we were completely out. “Give me two barrels. You got any cola?”

“Some,” for some reason he was giving us this measuring eye, “but the mercantile next door has more of it.”

I’d get it from there, then, and hope for better prices. I fished out the right coins, paid the man, and took the barrels he handed me, stacking them up on my left shoulder. The right hand I kept free, in case anyone got an idea that with my hands occupied, I couldn’t protect Robin. She led the way out, hips swaying with natural grace as she weaved her way in and out of the tables. I realize that she doesn’t move seductively on purpose, truly I do, but she was turning every man’s head by walking out of the room. 

In a moment of epiphany I realized that if she really did accept me as her lover, I’d be breaking men’s bones for the rest of our lives. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine that age would detract much from Robin’s beauty. 

We made it two steps out the door before Robin snagged me by the arm and pulled me around. “This way.”

“He said next door,” I protested although I readily went along with her. 

In answer, she pointed to the sign above and behind her head. It read in clear yellow letters ‘MERCANTILE.’

“Oh, this next door,” I said, as if I had known all along where I was going. 

Robin gave me that enigmatic smile as if she knew good and well I was bluffing. But she didn’t call me on it, just went ahead of me and into the store. I barely cleared the doorway when I realized that the store did not have the usual merchandise for sale. Or the typical customers, either. There wasn’t a shelf in the place, just men and women with garishly different clothing sitting on a variety of benches, and I’d bet that every single one was a pirate. 

The door slammed shut behind me and I put the barrels down to clear up my left hand. A fight was brewing in here although I didn’t know the rhyme or reason for it yet. “What’s this about?”

“We’re the Golden Beri Crew,” a man announced, coming to stand in front of us, arms crossed over his chest and a red beard bristling with every word. “If you were sent over here by the barkeep, then you’ve shown yourselves to be fighters. You’ll join our crew.”

That didn’t sound like an invite to me, but a demand. “We’re already part of a crew.”

“You’ll join our crew,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “and if you fight well, we’ll split the bounties with you. We’re after big fish – the Straw Hat Pirates.” 

…come again? 

Robin lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle, eyes crinkling up in silent laughter. I shot her a weary look. Of course she would find it funny that the idiot was trying to draft his potential targets into his crew without even realizing who we were. 

She caught my eye and whispered, “Now’s our chance to defect, Zorro. Should we take it?”

“Woman, be serious.” 

She giggled again. Apparently the situation was tickling her funny bone badly. I rolled my good eye to the ceiling and settled into a wider stance. “You take the right side, I’ll take the left.” 

I could hear the smirk in her voice as she put her back to mine. “Deal.” 

For a room full of bounty hunters and former Marines that were planning to take out the Straw Hat Pirates, I was expecting something in terms of fighting power. Like an actual fight, to start with. What I got was the most useless excuse for a brawl I’ve ever been in, and believe me, I’ve had my share of brawls. It was over before I could count to twenty. 

Robin blinked and asked incredulously, “Was that it?”

“This is actually embarrassing,” I muttered, to myself as much as to her. “I mean, is it really people of this caliber that’s going after us? We don’t rate better than this?”

“There’s Grundy for consolation, I suppose,” she offered. 

I snorted. Some consolation he was. “Let’s just go. Hopefully someone else can find cola to buy.” 

Robin led the way out the door, I picked up the sake, and we headed back for the ship. Well, it turned into more of a walk as Robin detoured down a completely unnecessary street for some reason, but I didn’t mind walking around with her aimlessly, so I didn’t call her on it. 

I really, truly, wanted to ask her questions. But I’d also promised I wouldn’t and would give her the space to think. I’d steeled myself for that space to be physical as well as emotional, and that she would keep her distance from me until she figured it all out, but fortunately she didn’t seem at all inclined to do that. Instead she acted as she always had, shopping with me in a new town, and coming up to talk to me when I had the watch at night. It was somewhat confusing but I was very grateful for it as well. 

Because of my preoccupation with her, I nearly didn’t realize that we’d walked the length of the docks three times. I might not have the best sense of direction, but even I start to recognize landmarks after seeing them that many times in a row. I stopped dead and asked her, “Where are you going?”

“Zoro,” there was a trace of growing alarm in her voice and expression, “I swear to you that the ship was precisely there when we docked.”

“You’ve got to be wrong,” I told her patiently. “Because if you were right, it would be there. Luffy and Usopp wouldn’t move it without a very good reason, and there’s nothing going on here, the docks are totally peaceful.” Almost abnormally so. Usually there’s at least one ship loading or unloading something, but at the moment, it was perfectly still without another soul in sight. 

“Do you remember when we came off the gangplank?” she asked, pointing dead ahead. “That there was a bar directly ahead, almost right on the docks?”

I had to squint against the sun to see where she was pointing. “Actually, I do…” I trailed off, the memory becoming clearer. I actually remembered the bar to be on the other side of the street, not there, but that didn’t make much of a difference. Either way, the ship should have been right in front of it. 

And it wasn’t. 

“They wouldn’t have moved the Sunny without a very good reason,” Robin confirmed for me, shifting from foot to foot in silent unease. “I agree with you. But I’m not seeing a reason for them to move it, either.” 

I put the sake down. This was no time to worry about it. “Where the hell is our ship and crew?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: 
> 
> Yes, I'm still working on it, no worries! I had a plot idea for the last part of this story, but I was driving at the time, and so I didn't write it down. Which means I promptly forgot it, of course. I've been trying to remember for the past two months, but I gave up tonight and came up with a new idea. I hope to finish the story in about five chapters or so as I already have an epilogue written and ready to go. We'll see if it happens as I hope it will.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

 

I’m used to losing track of the crew. We’re not exactly a disciplined bunch. Even when we do have a designated meeting place, it’s usually me that’s not at the right spot at the right time. So this sudden reversal of the norm through me for a loop. Here I am, at the right place, and they’re nowhere to be found. Usually I’d start worrying that I’d gotten it wrong, somehow, but Robin’s never been lost a day in her life. If she says we’re where we are supposed to be, then I believe her. 

This situation made a pit yawn in my stomach. Where was my crew? I like the Sunny just fine, I’d hate to lose her, but it’s my crew that took first priority. “Robin. Let’s find the others first, make sure we haven’t lost them.”

“We might need their help unraveling this mystery. Someone might even know why the Sunny isn’t docked here and where it went.” She grabbed my hand, tightly, and started towing me back into town. 

I might have contested the iron grip she had on me (it’s a little hard to fight like this) except for two things. One, Robin never gets lost. If we’re searching for someone, I’d prefer that she be in the lead. Two, this way I knew without a doubt that I wouldn’t accidentally lose her. Right now, I couldn’t stomach the thought of losing track of her too. 

On the surface, I might have been overreacting to the situation. So the ship wasn’t where I thought it would be, so? But my instincts were screaming that something was wrong, and they’ve never failed me, so I wasn’t doubting them now. 

For a woman that had only walked through this town once, it was amazing how confidently Robin strode through the streets. She went directly to the open market like she’d been here a dozen times before. She called out Chopper and Laws’ names as she went. I kept a sharp lookout as well, trying to spot them through the crowds of people gathered in the narrow street. 

We were in the market in prime shopping time, apparently, as it felt as if the whole town was here at once. The merchants were making a fine profit, and the smiles on their faces and the boisterous way they called out their wares made me think this was an unusual turnout for them. Strange, that, as I didn’t notice many other ships docked aside from ours and two cargo ships. Three ships made that much of a difference? 

I put the thought aside to ask myself later and kept walking. 

“Robin!” Chopper’s voice called through the crowd. 

Taking a hard right around a street kiosk, Robin dragged me out of the market street proper and to a little side café. There, looking completely relaxed, was Chopper and Nami. They were seated on a bench, a plate of dango in between them, tea in their hands. I blew out a relieved breath. At least we hadn’t lost them. 

“You two look out of breath,” Chopper noted in concern, hopping off the bench to approach us. “What’s wrong?”

“The ship is gone,” I informed him bluntly. “We went to the docks but it isn’t there.”

Nami gave me a doubtful look. “According to who it wasn’t there?”

“Me,” Robin responded. Her voice was in that cool, untroubled tone that she used when something was very upsetting to her and she had to bury all feelings to be able to handle the situation calmly. I knew that tone. It normally preceded trouble. “Neither of you know why it would leave the docks?”

Now Nami was finally worried. She set her own tea aside. “No, I have no idea. We didn’t realize it had moved.”

That wasn’t the answer I wanted. I looked down at Chopper. “I thought Law was with you?”

“He was, yeah. We found a really good deal on cola, so he stayed to buy everything they had and arrange it to be delivered at the ship. We were supposed to meet back here, then continue shopping, but he’s been so long that we decided to have a snack while we waited.” Chopper took a glance toward the sky. “He’s really been gone too long.” 

I glanced at Robin. “Think he might have run into another ‘recruiting’ bunch like we did?”

“He might have, but if they’re of the same level as ours, I can’t imagine that it would give him much trouble.” 

True. 

Nami’s eyebrows arched. “Recruiting bunch?”

“I’ll fill you in,” I promised her, “but we need to move and find everyone else. I have a really bad feeling about this.” 

Under mutual agreement, we moved as a unit. No one suggested splitting up to search for the others and I was glad. I’d have smacked ‘em if they did. What did surprise me was that even though we had met up with the others, Robin didn’t release my hand. She was no longer towing me with it, just holding it, and her grip was so tight I’d have had to break fingers to get free. 

Not that I wanted to get free. Far from it. I was very, very confused though. 

I’m sure Chopper and Nami noticed it, but they didn’t do more than glance in our direction, and they didn’t say a word about it. I was grateful for that. No doubt, after we found the rest of the crew and the ship, we’d get teased though. That was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. 

We started with the shop where Nami and Chopper had seen Law last. To my surprise, he was still there. I half-expected him to be gone. Also to my surprise, he was arguing quite loudly with another man, probably the shopkeeper, judging by the stained apron tied around his waist. I didn’t think Law could get loud. 

“Law.” His head snapped around at my hail. “Forget him, we have trouble.”

Frowning, Law stepped around the man, demanding as he moved, “What trouble?”

“The Sunny is no longer where it was docked,” Robin explained, still in that too-calm tone. “No one seems to know why.”

Law darted a look at the shopkeeper over his shoulder and stepped in closer so that he could say in a confidential tone, “I find that interesting. After I bought the cola, I told him to deliver it to the Sunny, but he said that was impossible as there was no pirate ship docked. I’ve been arguing with him about it for fifteen minutes now.” 

“Wait a minute,” Nami protested, “we came straight here from the ship! That barely took ten minutes! How would he know if the Sunny was at the docks or not?”

“A good question, isn’t it?” Law agreed darkly. “I think our feeling about this island was dead-on. We should have heeded our instincts and steered clear of it.” 

Oh yeah. It was too late for anything but regrets now. “Let’s find out how he knew, shall we?” I didn’t try to let go of Robin as I slipped sideways around Law and headed straight for the merchant. It wouldn’t take more than one arm to defeat the likes of him anyway. I made my tone as menacing as possible as I got right into his face. “How did you know?”

He swallowed, looked anywhere but my eyes, and subtly tried to slip backwards and away. “I’m not sure what you mea—”

My free hand shot out, grabbed him by the shirt front, and hauled him back to me. I did it with enough force that his toes were scrambling for purchase on the ground. He choked, grabbed my hand, struggling to free himself. He looked like a worm on a bait hook. 

“How. Did. You. Know,” I gritted out between clenched teeth. 

“Marines have a ransom on all pirate ships,” he gasped out, turning an alarming shade of red from lack of air. “Double the ransom if the crew’s captured too.” 

This was starting to make more sense. Only problem was, “I haven’t seen a sign of any Marines since coming here.” 

“They come by once a month, we just hold everything for them until then.” He wiggled, squirmed, and turned purple. 

It was a becoming shade for him. I was thinking he’d look better blue, though. 

Robin put a gentle hand on my arm. “Let him breathe, Zoro. We need him to answer questions.” 

She was unfortunately correct. I eased my grip so that he was standing on his own two feet and could breathe around the grip at his throat. “Law,” I turned my head enough to summon him forward. No one in the market had noticed our little interrogation yet and I wanted to keep it that way if possible. He came in closer, close enough I could ask him in a low tone, “You’ve been out more recently than we have. Have you heard of this?”

“No,” he denied, eyes boring holes into the merchant’s head. “I would have warned you if I had. I don’t think this is a world-wide thing anyway. Otherwise why would they have the timing worked out already? That they’ll hold the ships for a month means they have a holding yard for the ships, and cells to put the pirates, and enough guards on hand to manage it all for a straight month. That’s an established operation, not a new one.”

“Excellent point,” Robin agreed. 

“Hooo,” Nami leaned in between me and Law, mouth curled up in that disturbing smile that made me want to run for the hills. “So this island has a special arrangement with the Marines for this, eh? You’re perhaps a pilot to see if the idea is feasible? Bingo. You can tell from his eyes that’s it.”

Established or not, we had an answer. “Now, you answer one more question for us. Where are they?”

The man panicked in that moment, I’m not sure why. He screamed at the top of his lungs: “PIRATES! HELP!” And then he promptly tried to throw himself toward the ground. 

I didn’t let go of his shirt, but he was so desperate to get away from me that it was the material that gave way. It tore in a loud ripping sound that heralded trouble for all of us. The market, once peaceful, became raucously loud as people grabbed weapons and converged on us. 

Now we’re in for it. I didn’t want to try to fight this many people at once. Individually, they likely weren’t all that strong. Together, they had numbers on their side, and odds were someone was going to get hurt trying to escape them. Swearing, I grabbed Robin up with one arm, Chopper with the other, and yelled at the other two, “RUN FOR IT!”

Robin and Chopper fortunately didn’t try to fight my hold. Instead they both latched onto my arms and tried to stay steady as I shoved my way through the crowd. Law and Nami were quick on my heels although Nami demanded, “Run where?! We have no place to retreat to!”

My only answer was, “Not the sea!” With three Devil’s Fruit users in tow, I wasn’t about to chance that. If Law, Robin and Chopper fell into the water, I wouldn’t be able to save all three at once. 

“Not the ocean?” Nami protested, ducking and rolling to avoid a strike, then coming up again seamlessly to keep pace with me. “Zoro, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re on an island!”

Yeah, I agree, that’s a problem. 

“No,” Law pitched his voice to be heard over our pursuers, “we need to stay around the coastline!”

I turned my head just enough to argue with him, only to pause when I got a look at his face. “Why?”

“Because, it’s our only chance to find the Sunny! They’d have to sail her around to another holding yard, right? Only way to do it. And if we find the holding yard, then we’ll find anyone that’s missing!”

Robin patted my chest to get my attention and then pointed to the right. “That way.”

That way it is.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnd I'm back. I realize it's been a ridiculously long time since I've updated but I do not have any intention of abandoning this story  
> until it's finished. Do let me explain what happened.
> 
> After my last posting, I had a series of deaths in my family, and I was the administratix for an estate. That ate up a lot of my free time. Once I was past that hurtle, I sat down to work on the fic again, only to realize I had no idea how to end it. I had talked this out with a friend, and we both agreed we'd had a good idea of how it should end, but neither of  
> us had written it down. Months later, of course, we didn't remember a single word of the conversation.
> 
> So I had to come up with a way to end it. Again. THIS time I copied my notes down as I thought of how to do it. Not repeating that mistake!
> 
> When I came up with the ending, I initially thought it would take 45 chapters to tie it all off. I underestimated how hard Robin is to work with. If I can do this in 5 chapters it will  
> be a friggin' miracle. Thankfully, I already have the epilogue written. That's helps tremendously, having an endgoal in mind.
> 
> Alright, explanation over. Go read. :D

“I really, really hate to admit this,” I said while staring around a wide tree, looking at our pursuers, “but do you know who we could use right now?”

“Sanji,” Chopper and Nami said in perfect unison.

“Because of his sky-walk ability,” Law realized almost instantly. “True, that would be very helpful right now.”

We’d been running for about three hours. After carrying Chopper and Robin most of that distance—although I put Chopper down at one point so he could run on his own—I admit I might be a little short on breath. Just a touch.

The problem was I’m pretty sure we’ve covered a good portion of the shoreline at this point and we’re no closer to seeing any sign of the ship. In fact, aside from the main docks, the shoreline looks remarkably consistent. There’s little to no breaks in the tree line, aside from a few rocky beaches. It’s so uniform that it looks suspicious. We all agreed on this point but the only way to prove our instincts right were to charge in.

And doing that would be foolish. We had no way of knowing what’s in there. With a mob in pursuit, it got even more hairy. We can’t risk people getting hurt, even with two doctors, when we don’t have a safe place to retreat to.

Although if that mob doesn’t break off soon, my temper is going to snap and I’ll say ‘to hell with it’ and take them all out myself. Being chased like this is annoying.

“What should we do?” Nami asked. “Continue around the coast? Split up and search?”

“Splitting up might be more effective but I would not advise it,” Law answered, peering around my shoulder at the mob that was still trying to locate us. Fortunately, it was a very wide tree. “The last time we split up, they caught half of us.”

“In fact…” Robin observed with a troubled frown, “They caught the ones that were on their own.”

She’s right. Robin and I had been together, Chopper and Law were shopping with each other…wait. “Nami?”

“I bumped into Chopper and Law at the market almost immediately,” she admitted. “I don’t think they had time to grab me before I met up with them.”

So in essence, Robin was right, they only went for the ones on their own. It was typical for us to go off by ourselves when we reached a town, we didn’t think much of it. After days and sometimes weeks of being on a ship together, we wanted a break from each other. I’m the exception as people tend to want to go with me half the time.

“There has to be a hidden shipyard in this place somewhere,” Nami reasoned. “And if this is a racket that they’ve been at for some time, then they’ve learned how to hide it well. I don’t think we’re going to just stumble across it.”

She spoke sense. “Then, what? We kidnap one of those idiots chasing us? Force him to talk?”

“It’s not a bad plan.” Law had an evil glint in his eye that suggested he had an idea or three on how to force someone to talk. That look spoke of lye and thumbscrews. “How to lure one away from the rest, that’s the question.”

“I can do that,” Chopper volunteered. “I’ll have them chase me in Brain Point for a while and then duck them long enough to switch to Reindeer Point. They’ve only seen me look like this, it won’t occur to them that I’m a reindeer.”

“While they’re chasing you, sneak up from behind and grab someone?” Law nodded approval. “I like it. Let’s go with that.”

“I’ll shadow him,” Nami volunteered, “Help him out if they start to catch up.”

She could fry the whole lot of them if she needed to and had the time to set it up. She’s also the sneakiest of the bunch when she put her mind to it. Years of living with pirates can do that to a woman. “You two go. Keep to the beach until you’re ready to disappear.”

Nami waved me off as if to say she knew what to do. And she likely did. Then she started running with Chopper, keeping just inside the trees as to stay out of sight. Chopper, of course, was in plain sight and ran along the rocky beach as fast as his little legs would carry him.

The mob reacted like all mobs did—one person noticed and sent up a cry, the others taking it up, all of them moving like a flock of ravens, shifting and turning. They started chasing Chopper with more fervor than before although not at the same speed they’d used in the beginning. Three hours of chasing us had worn down their stamina significantly. Some of them, of course, were in better shape than the others, so they pulled a little ahead. Others lagged a little and a few staggered along in the back, a hand pressed against the stitch in their sides.

“Allow me,” Robin murmured. Picking the one at the very back, she activated her Devil’s Fruit ability and clamped a hand over the man’s mouth, two around his arms and legs, and then she carried along via a line of arms along the sand, bringing him directly to her.

The man’s eyes were terrified, bulging out of a sweating face, wispy hair sticking to his skin, patches of sweat darkening his clothes. I couldn’t tell from the way he was dressed what his profession was but from the smell of him, I’d say the town drunk.

Robin let the mob get a good distance away, far enough that we couldn’t hear them anymore, before letting go of his mouth. He tried screaming, only was too terrified and choked on it instead. “Save your breath,” she advised calmly, bending slightly forward at the waist to put their eyes more on the same level. “Screaming will bring you unfortunate consequences.”

He believed her and clamped his mouth shut.

“Now,” she continued with that genteel smile that sent a cold shiver up my spine, “where is my ship and crew?”

“M-Mugiwara Pirates,” he stuttered out.

“Right, that’s us,” I confirmed impatiently. “Where’s the rest of our crew and where’s our ship?”

His eyes darted between me and Robin. “N-Nico Robin? Roroana Zoro?”

“Yes, yes,” why did we have to grab the idiot, “where’s our crew?”

The man’s eyes promptly rolled up into his head and he went lax in Robin’s grip.

I stared at him for a full three seconds, disbelieving. “Did he seriously just faint?”

Law groaned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “He’s been chasing us for three hours but once we catch him, his courage fails this fast? Are the rest of them going to be like this too?”

This…might take a while.

 

+++

 

It in fact took another two idiots fainting on us before Robin figured it out.

“None of them knew who they were chasing,” she said in astonishment. “Every single one, once they’re close enough to get a good look at us, is surprised by our identity.”

Law and I looked at each other, a little poleaxed at this. “Is that possible?” I asked, almost rhetorically as it obviously was, we have three unconscious idiots to prove it. “I mean, I thought our reputation was such that people more or less knew us. Aside from Chopper and Sanji.”

“And their wanted posters are terrible, that’s to be expected.” Law rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, staring down at the current comatose idiot. “Zoro, go get Chopper and Nami.”

True, they didn’t need to keep running, and it’d be safer if they regrouped with us. I nodded and took off in a quick sprint, heading in the general direction that I heard yelling. Why do mobs yell for people to stop as they’re chasing someone? Seems like a complete waste of breath to me. No one being chased is going to stop voluntarily just because you say so.

Fortunately for me, the timing worked out. Just as I caught up with the two, Chopper changed back into reindeer form and Nami was hiding out in a bush. I ducked low below a couple of fallen logs, waited for the mob to pass, and then signaled the two to come back. Chopper especially looked relieved to be done with the bait and run, but then, it’s hard for him to maintain speed in Brain Point form.

“What’s their location?” Nami demanded as she loped back to me. Sweat was streaming down her temples, there were stains on her shirt, but she only looked mildly winded.

“We don’t know,” I admitted sourly. “All three of them fainted on us when they realized just who they were facing.” I got twin looks of disbelief. “No, I’m serious. They didn’t realize we’re Mugiwara Pirates.”

“What kind of pirate-catchers faint when their target is in front of them?” Chopper puzzled.

It was a really good question. I didn’t have an answer for him.

Nami, on the other hand, was looking around the island with a speculative look that I couldn’t interpret. She didn’t share her thoughts but instead asked, “Where’s the others?”

I turned and looked around me and only then realized I had no idea. I’d followed my ears to track these two down but now that I was standing in the forest like this, all of the trees looked the same to me, and I had no sense of where I’d come from.

Of course Nami and Chopper realized almost immediately what the problem was and groaned. “Why did they send you to fetch us?” Chopper grumbled to no one in particular.

Because Law didn’t know better? Oh well, we’ll find them eventually.

“They’re sticking close to the beach like we are,” Nami reasoned. “Let’s just run back the way we came and we’ll run into each other.”

That wasn’t a bad plan. I followed behind both of them, keeping my ears trained on our surroundings, just in case trouble decided to find us. We barely went any distance at all when I spotted Robin and Law running our direction. Apparently they had the same thought of meeting in the middle.

“Did you hear that?” Law demanded of us as soon as he was within earshot.

“Hear?” Chopper’s ears swiveled in all directions. “Hear wha—”

A boom rocked through the trees, setting all the birds off in flight, the leaves rustling in a sharp gust. I whirled to face it, one hand on my swords, ready to draw, but I couldn’t see anything to draw against.

“I will bet beris to donuts that’s Franky,” Nami declared, a smile lighting up her face.

“Or Usopp,” Chopper opined, tail wagging happily.

“Or Luffy,” I said with a grin of my own. “Those three are our racket-makers.”

Robin stared in the direction of the explosion with a distinct twinkle in her eye. “If they’re used to capturing pirates, and expected to capture us, they likely have sea-stone cuffs on Luffy and Brooke. My money is on Franky-san.”

She did have a point there. Franky was hard to contain because of all of his upgrades.

“At least we no longer have to wonder where they are.” Law loosened his sword in his sheath, a glint in his eye that suggested he was going to enjoy fighting now that the annoying chase scene was over.

“Indeed. Shall we follow the path of destruction and mayhem?” Robin asked and there was a suspiciously evil chuckle floating from her as she loped forward.

Well, it is Luffy, Franky and Brooke we’re talking about. Mayhem and destruction sounded about right.

I ran along with the rest of them, still keeping a sharp lookout, because a place like this couldn’t be taken at face value. Still, I didn’t expect there to be much of a fight by the time we arrived. Not with Franky throwing missiles all over the place.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Mayhem and destruction about covered it.

It was hard to see what the place must have looked like originally. I assume it had wooden docks, as I saw a lot of wood splinters strewn about on the ground, and there was evidence of several holding cells and perhaps a guard house? Of some kind? Most of it was nothing more than kindling now, still smoking or in flames, only the shells of buildings left behind.

The only thing left intact was two ships, one of which was the _Sunny_. It sat bobbing a little in the water, anchor still down. Franky was in his element, in tank form, running around shooting anything that moved. Usopp was frantically fighting as well, yelling something unintelligible back and forth with Luffy. I couldn’t make out the words over all the noise. Sanji yelled something as well before delivering a whirlwind kick to three people at once, then ran for the opposite side of the shipyard, although where he was going I had no idea.

There was enough people fighting here to man a large ship. It was madness, that’s all it was. I honestly wasn’t sure where to even start. Who do I go rescue first, the still chained up Luffy and Brooke? Go save Usopp before he got overwhelmed?

“Nami, Chopper, get to the _Sunny_ ,” I ordered calmly. “Get it ready to leave.”

“Roger!” they said at once and ran in that direction.

I looked at Robin and knew what she was thinking. I was the only one left that wasn’t a Devil’s Fruit user and could get those two free of the chains without being effected. She met my eyes and in that moment I didn’t need to discuss anything at all. We both knew what the other should do in this moment.

Giving her a quick nod, I turned on my heel and sprinted for our crazy captain and musician.

“Law-san,” I heard her say, “let’s help our comrades before they get overwhelmed.”

Those two were destructive enough to fell an army when they put their minds to it. I wasn’t worried about them. Instead, another problem was on my mind. I can get Brooke and Luffy free of the chains easy enough, a quick slice with any of my swords would do it, but that doesn’t really help them much. The cuffs are the problem. The sea-stone will turn them into useless lumps. Complaining useless lumps, in Luffy’s case.

But where was I supposed to find the keys in all of this confusion?

I ran for them anyway, hoping beyond hope that the key was somewhere nearby. Or I could find something to pry the cuffs off. At the very least, I could get them free and onto the _Sunny_ and we could figure out how to get the cuffs off later, once we’re free of this miserable place.

Luffy spotted me as I weaved my way around the fights, lighting up and calling happily, “Zoro! You found us!”

“Thanks to Franky shooting the place up,” I answered, skidding to a halt just at his feet. Those bastards had hung him up by the wrists, him and Franky both, leaving them dangling with their shoes three feet from the ground. If I figured out who was responsible for that bit of cruelty, I’d gut them. There’s no reason for chaining someone up like that.

“Bones hurt,” Luffy complained to me. “I’d forgotten what it’s like to have bones and muscles.”

He’d been rubber for almost ten years, of course he’d forget what it’s like, until sea-stone reminded him. I really hate it when Luffy’s hurting and it made my resolve to end this change my initial plan. No way am I leaving these two hanging while I search for a key. I drew the Wado and cut them down quickly, catching each in my free arm and easing them to the ground. Both of them had the strength of a limp noodle. I didn’t expect them to be able to run to the ship in this condition. Cursing, I re-sheathed the Wado and put each on a shoulder before hightailing it for the _Sunny_. Forget the key, I had to get them to safety first.

“Zoro, we’re all here?” Luffy demanded of me as he bounced along on my shoulder.

“All here,” I assured him.

Brooke tried lifting his head briefly. “I thought I saw Nami-san and Chopper-san get on the ship.”

“They’re prepping it for sail.” I’d reached the ship at that point but there was no gangplank out. Swearing, I put them down for a moment. I’d have to climb up and get it, no way did I want to distract Nami and Chopper from what they were doing.

As if I’d conjured her, Robin appeared at my elbow. She touched my shoulder briefly, just enough to both get my attention and communicate to me to stay where I was, then she was off again. Her ability activated, connecting a long chain of hands to the ship’s railing, pulling her up and on board. I swear, she’s as bad at just swinging around as Luffy is some days.

The gangplank appeared, shooting out and the bottom landing on what was left of the dock with a sharp clack. I grabbed my two shipmates and hauled them quickly aboard. I barely got them onto the deck when Sanji landed next to me, a keyring dangling in his hand. Oh, is that what he was doing? Going for the keys? At least someone knew where they were.

Both chained men sighed with relief when the cuffs were off, Luffy automatically springing to his feet. “Let’s go!”

I’m all for that. I went to the railing and called out, “GET ON BOARD!”

Of course it wasn’t that easy. Disengaging from a fight never is. Franky managed it first, as he blew to smithereens anyone stupid enough to approach him, and then rolled up the gangplank. Usopp and Law, however, were surrounded on all sides, although Law was of course handling it better than Usopp was.

Luffy, impatient at the delay, reached out with both hands, his arms stretching the way only a rubberman could. He snagged them around their waists and jerked them back to him. Usopp squeaked at this abrupt recall by his captain. Law made this keening noise in the back of his throat, limbs scrambling for purchase. Come to think of it, it was the first time he’d experienced Luffy’s grabbing method. The first time was a bit unnerving, when the ground was literally jerked away from you. Hang around Luffy long enough, you got used to it, though.

Nami wasted no time. As soon as everyone was on board, she set the rudder and turned the _Sunny_ about, getting us clear of the island. A few diehards tried shooting us with cannons, but those don’t hold any threat over us, not between Luffy and me. Luffy just bounces them back, I slice them in two.

I heaved a breath of relief when we were finally free and clear. Going up to the main deck, I requested of Nami, “Mark that one on the charts: Do Not Enter.”

“Consider it done,” she assured me fervently. “That place is too much trouble. But what are we going to do about food? Nothing we bought made it on board.”

It was just insult to injury that they got our money from us too, on top of making us run around like idiots. “For tonight, I’ll go fishing, give love-cook something to work with. Next island, we’ll try stopping again.”

Nami nodded agreement, as there wasn’t anything else to do. I went hunting for my fishing pole.

We were going to have a lot of fish in our foreseeable future.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

My not-quite-a-lover has seriously bad nightmares.

I think everybody has nightmares on this ship. After living through the various catastrophes we’ve experienced, it’s a given that it will haunt our dreams. Robin’s probably got the worst of it in my estimation and because of that I don’t give her grief like Chopper does about sleeping proper hours. With Robin, she slept when she felt she could and that was fine by me up to a certain point.

It was times like this, when she avoided sleep for days at a time, that I had to put my foot down.

We were on the open sea again, sailing along the Grand Line, with no trouble in sight. The trouble instead was internal this time, brewing behind a pair of dark eyes.

Robin had volunteered to take Usopp’s watch, on account of his head cold, which meant she would once again be avoiding her bed until the small hours of the morning. I watched her head up for the crow’s nest with a frown on my face. She wasn’t swaying on her feet like last time but there was something about her posture that said she was unbalanced.

“She’s gone too long without sleeping again,” Chopper fretted at my side. He pushed his dinner plate away and stared hard at Robin’s back. “I’ll—”

I threw up a hand to stop him. “I’ll take care of it.”

Chopper’s mouth visibly changed what he was going to say. “You sure?”

“Sure,” I responded, already pushing to my feet.

The little doctor looked up at me with a purely calculating expression and then what might have been a grin flashed over his face. “Alright. I’ll leave it to you, Zoro.”

As I left the kitchen, I wondered just how much he knew. Chopper and Brooke both are pretty sharp and there are times I swear they know more than they let on. But in this moment I didn’t care if he knew what was going on or not. I’d ask him later, to satisfy my curiosity, but right now a pretty brunette was my priority.

Getting Robin to actually sleep took a certain amount of strategy. Going straight up to her and telling her she needed to sleep was a surefire way of making her dig in her heels. You absolutely did not want to put that woman’s back up. I can move mountains before I can get her to change her stance on something.

Knowing this, I didn’t head straight for the crow’s nest. Instead I snagged two mugs of coffee for both of us, then raided the cabinet for the Go set, and only then went for her. Juggling two cups and a game board in one hand is a real feat, let me tell you, but after being on a ship for so many years, I’d learned the finer art of balancing things in one arm.

Robin must have heard me, as she opened the hatch so I could come through, taking the mugs from me before anything could spill. “Go?” she asked, eyes trained on the board.

“Care for a game?” I asked as innocently as possible. “I’m not ready to turn in yet.”

Amiable to this, she waved me to the bench, putting my mug on the windowsill so it was within my reach. I put the board between us. “White or black?”

“Black.”

I didn’t care, so handed her the black stones and pried off the lid so I could reach the white. The first few moves were made in companionable silence as we each got our initial players in the game. “I’m glad that Usopp took the time to fix the board. With these dents in it, the stones don’t slide off like they used to.”

“Truly. I didn’t think it would work that well but it more or less keeps them seated in place.” Robin calmly placed a stone.

I stared at her move and frowned. “Are you supposed to be causing me trouble this early in the game?”

She smiled that enigmatic smile of hers and waggled the stone in her fingers, indicating it was my turn.

I’m in trouble. Even though I have a highly competitive spirit, I didn’t care that I was already losing as long as she smiled at me like that. This does not look good for our future relationship. It meant she was likely to win every argument. I’ll become whipped. It’s as inevitable as sunrise.

We played on although after a certain point I gave up winning and just tried to survive long enough to make the game last more than ten minutes. I’m a decent enough player, or so I thought, but this woman is creaming me.

The game, however, did the trick. The tightness in her expression had eased and she no longer looked like she was fighting some internal demon. Now she just looked tired. Putting the game away, I tried to coach the words that would make her let go for a while. “You look like you have a headache brewing.”

“It’s not serious enough for Chopper.”

In other words, yes, she did. “How about you lean your back against me for a minute, rest your eyes and brain, see if it leaves?” When she hesitated, I added calmly, “I’ll take over keeping a lookout. You’ll be more alert that way.”

It was perhaps a testament to our relationship that she didn’t argue the point. Two years ago she would not have easily admitted to any weakness to me nor given in to it so I was silently elated that she didn’t try to do so now. Instead she turned, leaning her back against my chest, her head on my shoulder. I didn’t say a word and didn’t need to. Instead I started counting down in my head.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four….and there she went. Robin has a very distinctive breathing sound when she’s truly asleep. It’s a borderline snore, light and feminine, and not something you can fake.

I smiled into the darkness. I just knew she would pass out if I could take her mind off things and then give her some silence. The dim lighting up here probably helped.

Twisting my arm behind my back, I grabbed the blanket we kept up here and threw it over her, not wanting her to wake up cold. Very, very softly, almost inaudibly, I whispered against her skin, “I’ve got your demons, love. Don’t worry about them and sleep.”

It was almost as if she heard me. She relaxed even further into me and this time she really did snore.

Grinning, I stared out over the empty sea, keeping watch as I had promised.    

 

ӁӁӁ

 

(Robin’s POV)

When did he learn how to maneuver me like that?

I stared at Zoro’s back as he helped Usopp fix the rigging, eyes narrowed in speculation. Not to mention suspicion. Last night in the crow’s nest I hadn’t suspected a thing when he’d come with the Go board in tow. I hadn’t suspected much when he offered to let me just lean against him for a moment. Perhaps he was trying to steal a snuggle, that was as far as my suspicions went. I went along with it because, well, I was attracted to Zoro and enjoyed the skinship with him. What was the harm?

When I woke up this morning in my own bed, that’s when I realized that whole event last night had been schemed to get me relaxed enough to sleep.

That sneaky, conniving man.

“Robin?”

I blinked down at Chopper. “Yes?”

“Did Zoro do something? You’re smiling.”

I couldn’t deny either staring at Zoro or the smile so just shrugged. “Nothing important. You need me?”

“Ah, yeah, Nami said there’s an island up ahead and she wants to stop for supplies. We’re running short on a few medicines, too. Can you help me make a list of what we need?”

“Certainly.”

We were in Chopper’s clinic when he asked me, in a deliberately off-hand manner, “You and Zoro?”

I paused with my hands buried in his drawers. “I’m sorry?”

“You and Zoro are together?” he asked, knowing full well that I had understood that cryptic question, but wasn’t about to let me weasel out of it by pretending I hadn’t.

Hands still, I turned and regarded him thoughtfully. Just how much did Chopper know? “What makes you think so?”

Chopper’s voice went very dry, eyes knowing. “You two can go through an entire battle without needing to communicate? Or perhaps it’s because he’s the only one on board ship that can actually get you to sleep? Not to mention you always smile when you see him.”

Did I really do all of that? How strange, I didn’t even realize it. But he’s right, looking back over the events of the past few days, I really hadn’t needed to communicate to know what he would do. I wasn’t aware of always smiling at Zoro but it wouldn’t surprise me. Ever since that day, when he’d confessed his feelings properly in the crow’s nest, I hadn’t been able to get that scene out of my head. I looked at him and a part of my mind relived being in his arms. Anyone would smile remembering _that._ “We’re not together, Chopper.”

The little doctor stared at me, clearly not believing it.

I’m not sure if I believe me either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all she wrote for the moment. I'll get to the rest when I can but March is pretty busy. I'm shooting for April.


End file.
